For interior designers, the latest escalation in the U.S.-Canada trade war is likely to be felt less at the cash register than at the point of specification.
The 50% tariffs imposed last week on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods have added another variable to an already complicated commercial interiors market. The new duties cover a range of products, including furniture, and apply even to goods that otherwise qualify for preferential treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Canada has pledged dollar-for-dollar retaliation beginning Sept. 8, according to the Associated Press.
While many believe tariffs should be left to the bean counters, it should matter to designers as well because the products they specify increasingly come from integrated North American supply chains. A chair, workstation, conference table or architectural product may be manufactured in Canada, assembled there from components sourced elsewhere or contain Canadian steel, aluminum, wood or other materials. Determining the tariff exposure of a finished product can become considerably more complicated than simply identifying the country where it was manufactured.
And designers do not control the final price, which is an important distinction. A dealer or manufacturer ultimately handles the import transaction and pays the applicable duty, but the designer is often the person who selected the product, established the project’s budget and must explain to the client why a specification that worked six months ago no longer does.
The result could be a fundamental change in how designers approach product selection. For years, designers have been trained to evaluate products through a familiar set of criteria: aesthetics, performance, ergonomics, sustainability, availability, price and lead time. Tariffs add another question: How exposed is this product to geopolitical risk?
That question could become particularly important on large workplace projects, where furniture packages are specified months before installation. If a project contains hundreds of workstations or thousands of task chairs, even a relatively small change in unit cost can materially affect the budget. A product facing a 50% tariff is a different proposition altogether.
Designers may increasingly have to develop backup specifications earlier in the process. Instead of identifying one preferred product and moving directly through approval, teams may need a primary specification, a comparable domestic alternative and perhaps a second option from a different supply chain.
That changes the role of the designer. Product knowledge has always been central to the profession, but tariff volatility makes supply-chain knowledge more valuable. Designers will need to understand not only what a product looks like and how it performs, but where it comes from, how it gets to the jobsite and how vulnerable its pricing and availability are to changes in trade policy.
It also puts greater pressure on relationships with dealers and manufacturers. The most useful manufacturer representative may no longer be the person who can simply provide a sample and price. Designers will need timely information about tariff exposure, inventory, production locations, lead times and potential substitutions. Dealers, meanwhile, can become an important source of intelligence about which products are actually moving through the supply chain without disruption. Instead of hosting product lunch-and-learns, perhaps we will see tariff lunch-and-learns as well.
This article highlights how tariffs might affect designers, but the topic impacts the entire industry, including manufacturers. The spokesperson for Quebec-based Lacasse said: “It’s still an ever-evolving situation, so we are waiting for more precision. Once that’s confirmed, we will be able to communicate with our partners directly.”
Whether or not a tariff applies to certain products is still being debated. Canadian manufacturer Three H recently sent an email to its customers to share an update. “While furniture has been identified among the categories affected, based on the tariffs currently in effect, Three H products are not subject to the new 50% Section 338 duties,” the email said. “We’re continuing to monitor developments closely and will keep our partners informed of any changes that affect Three H products or shipments to the U.S.”
That communication will be especially important once a project is under contract. If tariffs change between specification and purchase order, somebody has to determine whether the additional cost belongs to the manufacturer, dealer, client or some combination of the three. Designers will increasingly find themselves in those conversations even when they are not financially responsible for the increase.
So what products are actually facing tariffs? While we are not customs lawyers and you should seek legal advice from them, by our reading, virtually all furniture falls under tariffs from the U.S. and counter tariffs from Canada. Products entering the U.S. are assigned a 10-digit code called the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The international standard is the Harmonized System code, a system maintained by the World Customs Organization and used by virtually every country in the world. The key number for the furniture industry are products that begin with “940,” which includes many categories of furniture — virtually all of which fall under the tariffs.
There is another consequence that could be less obvious. Tariffs may alter design itself. When a preferred material or product becomes substantially more expensive, designers may look for alternatives that were previously dismissed because they were less attractive, less sustainable or simply unfamiliar. A Canadian-made product could be replaced by a U.S.-made equivalent. A particular wood species could give way to another material. A highly customized product could be replaced with something more readily available. That does not necessarily mean lower-quality design. It does mean that economic and geopolitical considerations will become more visible in the creative process.
The new tariffs also arrive at a particularly difficult time. Designers and their clients are already navigating inflation, cautious capital spending, longer project cycles and pressure to demonstrate the business value of workplace investments. Adding tariff uncertainty makes it harder to establish reliable budgets at the beginning of a project.
And the situation remains fluid. The 50% tariffs affect only a portion of Canadian exports, while products covered by other tariff regimes, including certain steel and aluminum products, are treated separately. The White House says the new Section 338 tariffs apply regardless of USMCA eligibility, while excluding certain products already subject to Section 232 tariffs.
For designers, that means there is no simple “Canadian product equals 50% tariff” rule. Product classification, country of origin and the applicable tariff regime all matter.
That complexity is precisely why designers should not try to solve the problem alone. The better approach is to make tariff exposure part of the early project conversation with manufacturers, dealers and clients.
All of this, of course, depends on the posture the White House takes from day to day. A deal could be brokered before the virtual ink dries on this story. Or it could somehow get worse. President Donald Trump has already announced another escalation involving Canadian automobiles, automotive parts and steel beginning Jan. 1, 2027, adding to the uncertainty surrounding the broader North American trade relationship.
For interior designers, it is important to understand that sourcing is no longer merely a procurement issue. It is becoming a design issue.