Staying put in Vietnam, furniture exporters bet US consumers will absorb tariff blow

The mid-sized manufacturer, which declined to disclose its revenues, ships 70% of its furniture to the U.S., where its sofas and armchairs are sold either under top retailers' names or with its own Simon Li brand in major chains, including Costco COST.O.

Trump signed on Monday a document imposing 25% tariffs on wooden furniture from October 14, which could rise next year to 50% for vanities and kitchen cabinets and to 30% for upholstery. He had earlier said the new duties would take effect on October 1.

Trayton is exposed to the levy on upholstery, said the company's founder and CEO Simon Lichtenberg, noting that may narrow margins but was likely to be largely absorbed by U.S. consumers who will pay more.

The relocation to Vietnam, from where Trayton currently sends to America 50 containers per week, "remains the right strategy," he told Reuters, noting U.S. duties are higher for exports from China, where the company still has most of its international workforce of more than 1,000.

China remains the company's hub for research and development, and spare capacity there could allow it to resume production if Beijing managed to lower tariffs on its exports to the U.S., Lichtenberg said.

US RELOCATION IS "NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE"

In a posting on Monday on Truth Social, Trump said: "I will be imposing substantial Tariffs on any Country that does not make its furniture in the United States."

"It would be next to impossible to produce in the United States" because costs are too high and skilled workers would be hard to find, Lichtenberg said, noting that was out of the question.

Jonathan Sowter, head of Jonathan Charles Fine Furniture, a maker of high-quality wood furniture, which employs 2,500 skilled staff in Vietnam and ships about 60 containers a month to the United States, said he would seek to export more to alternative markets. U.S. tariffs would potentially narrow margins, and higher prices were inevitable, he said.

However, "we would have zero intention to manufacture in the United States," Sowter added, noting his company's workforce could not be replicated in America.

VIETNAM TO BE HIT HARD

Trayton's relocation of a large share of its export-bound production to Vietnam followed similar moves by its main Chinese competitors, including Man Wah Furniture 1999.HK and KUKA Home, which have all transferred capacity from China to its southern neighbour in recent years to avoid U.S. tariffs.

As a result, Vietnam may be on track this year to surpass China as the main supplier of furniture to the United States, U.S. data show.

In the first seven months of this year the Southeast Asian nation shipped furniture worth nearly $8.2 billion to the U.S., accelerating from 2024, whereas Chinese exports slowed to $8.4 billion in the same period.

The U.S. is the largest market for Vietnam-made furniture and wooden goods, which in turn are Vietnam's fifth largest export sector to the world's biggest economy.

Vietnam-based exporters were shocked when tariffs were first announced, but Lichtenberg was less pessimistic, as he hoped the company's higher-quality products would remain attractive to less cost-conscious buyers.

"Consumers are not very sensitive to furniture prices as they buy them only every few years," he said.