Furniture is unusually exposed in the current tariff era because it is bulky, low in value per pound, and largely sourced from a small group of Asian countries, most of which face recent rate actions. A bedframe or sofa carries little duty per cubic foot of shipping, so when a surcharge stacks onto an already freight-heavy product, the added cost tends to land disproportionately on your landed price. Wood furniture has been a recurring target of trade actions, which means a current stacked rate can sit on top of pre-existing antidumping orders rather than replacing them.
Representative 2026 estimate stacking base MFN duty (USITC HTS 2026 Rev.10), Section 301 on China-origin goods (USTR), Section 232 on autos and steel/aluminum/copper articles (CRS IN12545), and the 10% Section 122 surcharge that expires 2026-07-24 and is under appeal (Skadden). Your exact per-SKU duty depends on the precise HS code, which MarginGuard resolves from the live HTS schedule once connected. Not legal or customs advice.
Goods imported from the Philippines into the United States carry a reciprocal-era tariff load on top of the base HTS/MFN duty set by each product's classification. The Philippines is a recurring name on "alternatives to China" lists, but the reciprocal load is real and stacks on landed cost, so it matters for every SKU's true margin. There is no single Philippines rate: the duty that applies depends on each product's exact HS code, and the representative figure for your category is in the rate box above. Because reciprocal-era rates are policy-driven and have been adjusted on short notice, treat any figure as a current snapshot rather than a fixed baseline.
The Philippines is a China-diversification origin to model, not a duty-free escape hatch: reciprocal-era duties still apply and the rate turns on your product's HS classification, so confirm the landed cost before assuming you save. The real catch is depth of supply. The Philippines has genuine strength in a few areas — electronics and semiconductor assembly, certain wood and rattan furniture, coconut-derived and food products, garments — and thinner capacity in others, so for many categories you may find fewer qualified factories, longer lead times, and less pricing leverage. Watch transshipment risk too: country-of-origin is decided by where substantial transformation happens, not where the last box was sealed, and goods that are merely finished or repacked in the Philippines after being made elsewhere can be ruled the higher-tariff origin at the border. The margin-safe move is to confirm a real Philippine supply base for your specific product, get the HS classification right, and keep origin documentation clean — not to assume the country label alone lowers your duty.
That's a single SKU. Across a full catalog the tariff hits every imported product differently depending on its cost and price — which is exactly why margin damage hides until a quarter closes light.
Paste your Shopify URL. In about ten seconds you'll see every SKU that dropped below your target margin after the current Philippines tariffs — and the exact price to charge to recover each one. Free, no login.
Scan your store free →Landed cost = unit cost × (1 + tariff rate). To get back to a target margin M, the recovery price is landed cost ÷ (1 − M). For a $250 chair from Philippines at a 14% stacked rate, that means charging $237.50 to hold a 40% margin. Round to a clean price point and test it; the point is to stop selling underwater.
Most finished furniture classifies under HTS chapter 94, where the heading turns mainly on use and material: seats (9401), other furniture such as tables, dressers, and bedframes (9403), and mattresses and bedding (9404) each carry different base treatment, and within those the material — wood, metal, plastic, or upholstered — can move the rate. The base MFN duty for the category is generally modest, but the duty that actually lands on your invoice is the country-of-origin load stacked on top, plus any product-specific antidumping or countervailing duty — for example the AD/CVD orders associated with wooden bedroom furniture and certain mattresses from specific countries — which in some cases can be much larger than the ordinary rate. Whether any such order reaches a given product, and the exact treatment, depends on the precise HS code and origin. Whether a piece is motorized, upholstered, or imported as a kit of parts versus fully assembled can also shift it into a different subheading with different treatment.
A common and costly mistake is treating every piece that holds your goods as one furniture line. Chapter 94 applies a use-and-form test: a seat generally classifies in 9401 even if it is a stool or bench, a storage cabinet generally goes in 9403, and some wall-mounted shelving or display units may fall outside chapter 94 depending on the specific article and its construction. A bigger trap is wooden bedroom furniture — dressers, nightstands, and headboards — which can fall under subheadings associated with antidumping orders; classifying such an item as generic "other wooden furniture" to sidestep that scope is the kind of call customs can reclassify on review, potentially with back duties. The precise subheading and whether an AD/CVD order reaches your SKU depend on the exact HS code and construction, so confirm it per product — ideally with a licensed customs broker — rather than applying one assumption across the whole catalog.
Furniture sourcing has shifted toward Vietnam and, increasingly, Thailand, India, and Cambodia, in part to move away from earlier China-specific actions — but a country switch only helps if it also clears any antidumping order that attaches to a specific product-and-origin pair, not just the headline tariff. Because furniture is assembly-heavy, substantial-transformation rules matter: shipping Chinese components to a third country for final assembly does not automatically change the country of origin for duty purposes, and this pattern has drawn enforcement attention. The more durable levers for a bulky category are renegotiating FOB cost, consolidating freight to cut the per-unit landed hit, and moving to knock-down (flat-pack) construction that ships denser — then modeling all-in landed cost per origin before committing, since the lowest-tariff country is rarely the lowest landed cost once freight and any AD/CVD are counted. Confirm origin treatment for your specific goods with a licensed customs broker.
Why is my furniture duty higher than the base furniture rate I looked up?
The ordinary MFN duty for chapter 94 is generally modest, but it is rarely the whole story. Your landed duty is that base rate plus the current country-of-origin load, and for wooden bedroom furniture or certain mattresses it can also include a product-specific antidumping or countervailing duty tied to your exact origin. Those AD/CVD margins are typically set per producer and can be far larger than the ordinary rate, which is one reason two similar dressers from different factories can clear at very different totals. The exact figures depend on the specific HS code and origin.
Does flat-pack or knock-down furniture get classified differently than assembled?
It can. A complete piece imported unassembled is often still classified as the finished article under chapter 94, but kits, parts, and components can fall into separate subheadings — sometimes with different duty treatment — depending on how complete the shipment is. The practical benefit of flat-pack is usually freight: denser cartons cut your per-unit shipping, which for a bulky low-margin category can move landed cost more than chasing a fractionally lower duty line. Confirm the subheading per SKU, since how 'complete' the kit is can change the answer.
If I move furniture production from China to Vietnam, does the China rate go away?
The China-specific load can go away, but generally only if the goods genuinely originate in Vietnam under the substantial-transformation test — final assembly of Chinese parts may not be enough to change the country of origin for duty purposes. This pattern of routing through third countries has drawn enforcement attention, and an incorrect origin claim can expose you to back duties and penalties. You also have to check whether an antidumping order already covers furniture from the new country, since some orders span multiple origins. For a specific move, confirm the origin treatment with a licensed customs broker.
Is sourcing from the Philippines cheaper than China after tariffs?
Not automatically. The duty that applies depends on your product's exact HS code, so the only reliable comparison is the full landed cost per SKU — duty, unit cost, freight, and minimum order quantities — for the Philippines versus your current origin. Philippine factories can quote higher per-unit prices in categories where capacity is thin, which can offset any duty difference. Run the full landed-cost math per SKU before committing, and re-check it whenever rates move.
Does the Philippines qualify for any duty-free trade program with the US?
There is no comprehensive US free-trade agreement with the Philippines that zeroes out duties across the board, and any preference that does exist applies only if the goods meet that program's specific rules of origin. Reciprocal-era duties still apply to most imports. Don't assume a category is duty-free — confirm the HS code and the actual current treatment for your product, and treat program eligibility as something to verify rather than presume. This is general guidance, not customs or legal advice.
What's the biggest risk when moving sourcing to the Philippines?
Two things. First, origin integrity: tariff treatment follows where the product is substantially transformed, so components made elsewhere and only assembled or repacked in the Philippines may not earn Philippine origin — and can be reclassified to a higher-tariff country at the border. Second, supplier depth: outside the Philippines' established strengths you may face fewer vetted factories, longer lead times, and weaker pricing leverage. Vet the supply base for your exact product and keep clean origin documentation before you shift volume. This is general guidance, not customs or legal advice.
MarginGuard watches every imported SKU and alerts you the moment a tariff change pushes one below your target margin — with the exact recovery price.
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