Furniture is one of the most tariffed consumer categories entering the United States, and the paperwork is where first-time importers lose money. A sofa from Guangdong can carry a 25% Section 301 duty, another 25% under Section 232 and roughly 6% ordinary duty before a single compliance document is checked. Meanwhile the wood panels inside it must be certified to EPA formaldehyde limits, the upholstery must pass a flammability standard, and every solid-wood component has to be declared under the Lacey Act. This guide sets out the 2026 numbers product by product, the five rules that stall containers, and the exact document pack to request before you pay a deposit.
The 2026 tariff stack, product by product
There is no single "China furniture tariff". Total duty is a stack of separate measures, and whether each one applies depends on the exact 10-digit HTS line, the materials and the construction. The layers you may see on one entry:
- Ordinary (MFN) duty — the base rate in the tariff schedule. Many Chapter 94 furniture lines are free; upholstered seating often lands around 6%.
- Section 301 — the China-specific additional duty. Most furniture lines sit at 25%; some are scheduled to move to 30% on 1 January 2027.
- Section 232 — a 25% national-security duty on upholstered wooden furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities, plus 10% on softwood timber and lumber. The scheduled rises to 30% (upholstered) and 50% (cabinets, vanities) were deferred to 1 January 2027.
- Section 122 — a temporary 10% surcharge applied to many China-origin goods during 2026. It generally does not stack on the portion already covered by Section 232; confirm its status for your entry date.
- Antidumping / countervailing duties — product-specific and potentially enormous: wooden bedroom furniture from China carries AD rates up to 216%, and there are separate orders on mattresses, cabinets, ceramic tile and quartz surfaces.
| Product | Typical HTS | 2026 combined duty (indicative) | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upholstered wooden sofa / chair | 9401.61 / 9401.69 | ~6% MFN + 25% 301 + 25% 232 ≈ 50–51% | Rises again from 1 Jan 2027 |
| Kitchen cabinets, vanities | 9403.40 | 25% 301 + 25% 232 ≈ 50% | AD/CVD orders also apply to China-origin cabinets |
| Wooden bedroom furniture | 9403.50 class | 25% 301 + AD up to 216% | AD scope is product-specific — check the order |
| Wooden dining / office furniture | 9403.60 / 9403.30 | MFN (often free) + 25% 301 | No 232 unless upholstered |
| Metal household furniture | 9403.20 | 0% MFN + 25% 301 | Kits shipped as parts can hit aluminium orders |
| Mattresses | 9404.21 / 9404.29 | MFN + 301 + AD | Separate AD order on China mattresses |
On top of duty, every ocean entry pays the Merchandise Processing Fee (0.3464% of value, subject to annual caps) and the Harbor Maintenance Fee (0.125%), plus broker fees, bond and drayage. None of those are in the supplier's FOB quote. If the same order is going to the United Kingdom instead, the maths inverts: duty there is 0% on the main furniture codes and the cost sits in VAT and fire-safety labelling — see importing furniture to the UK for that side of the comparison.
The practical consequence: a 25% duty is not a footnote, it is a quarter of your goods value. A container with a 50% stacked rate can price a product out of the US market entirely at the retail price you planned. Before you place a deposit, model the duty at the 10-digit HTS line, not at the category level — misclassification alone can move the rate by 25 percentage points. Our landed cost breakdown shows where duty sits relative to freight, VAT and fees.
CARB Phase 2 and TSCA Title VI (formaldehyde)
Any furniture sold in the US that contains composite wood — plywood, particleboard, MDF — is subject to formaldehyde emission limits. California's CARB Phase 2 set the numbers; since 2019 the federal TSCA Title VI rule has adopted the same limits nationwide, so this is not a California-only issue.
| Panel type | Formaldehyde limit |
|---|---|
| Hardwood plywood | ≤ 0.05 ppm |
| Particleboard | ≤ 0.09 ppm |
| Medium-density fibreboard (MDF) | ≤ 0.11 ppm |
What makes this a supply-chain problem rather than a test problem is that the panel mill, not the furniture factory, holds the certification. A factory that assembles your sofa may buy boards from three different distributors. If one of them is uncertified, your finished product is non-compliant even though the factory did nothing wrong.
So ask for more than a certificate with the factory's name on it:
- The CARB/TSCA certificate and licence number of the panel mill, and the invoice or delivery note linking those panels to your production run
- Certified mill stamps on raw material invoices, not just a scanned PDF
- The compliance label that must appear on the finished article, plus the importer's records showing the panel supplier
Non-compliance is usually discovered at the port, not at the factory. Detention while you chase paperwork typically runs weeks, and the container is your cost while it waits.
TB 117-2013 and federal flammability rules
Upholstered furniture sold in the US must resist ignition. Two layers apply:
- TB 117-2013 (California, adopted as the de facto national standard for residential upholstery) — a smoulder-resistance test applied to the components: fabric, foam, barrier materials. It is not a test of the assembled sofa. Compliant furniture carries a permanent label.
- 16 CFR Part 1640 — the federal flammability regulation for upholstered furniture, which references the same TB 117-2013 test methods.
- CAL 133 / ASTM E1537 — the open-flame, room-scale test that hotels, lobbies, universities and other contract buyers specify. If you are selling into hospitality, this is the standard in the RFQ, and it is much harder to pass than TB 117.
Two practical traps. First, the test report must come from an accredited third-party laboratory — a factory's own declaration is not accepted by customs or by retail buyers. Second, component substitutions kill compliance: if the factory changes foam density or fabric supplier after the test, the report no longer covers what you ship. Lock the material specification in writing and re-test after any substitution.
For contract and hospitality buyers, add CAL 133 to the specification before the RFQ goes out, not after the samples are approved — retrofitting a flame barrier changes the cost and the lead time.
Proposition 65 warnings
Prop 65 is not a certification and there is no pass/fail. It is a California right-to-know law: if your product exposes users to a listed chemical above the safe-harbour level, you must warn. The list now runs to roughly a thousand substances, and furniture is a routine target because of lead in coatings and metal hardware, phthalates in PVC and coated fabrics, and formaldehyde in panels.
What that means in practice:
- Decide whether a warning is required, based on material declarations and, where needed, testing (ISO 17025 labs are the norm)
- If required, label the product, packaging or hangtag with the standard warning, and mirror it on the product page — e-commerce listings are not exempt
- Keep the evidence: test reports, exposure assessment, label artwork, supplier declarations
The enforcement mechanism is what makes this expensive: private parties and NGOs can sue after a 60-day notice, and settlements routinely run into five or six figures for small importers who never had a compliance file. If you sell into California through Amazon or a retailer, assume you are in scope.
Lacey Act and ISPM 15 packaging
The Lacey Act requires a declaration of the genus, species and country of harvest for plant-based materials in your product. In practice that means your supplier must know what the wood actually is — not "solid wood" or "MDF with veneer". Since 2026 the declaration is filed electronically through ACE/LAWGS rather than on paper.
Why it matters commercially: illegal-logging enforcement carries civil penalties and, in criminal cases, fines that can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars plus forfeiture of the shipment. Risk concentrates in tropical species and in mixed-source panels where traceability breaks at each handoff.
Separately, ISPM 15 governs the wooden packaging: crates, pallets and dunnage must be heat-treated or fumigated and carry the IPPC mark. A container with unmarked wood packaging can be refused or re-exported at your cost, regardless of how compliant the furniture is.
Ask the factory for species identification (scientific names), harvest-country documentation, and photographs of the ISPM 15 stamps on the actual pallets before loading.
STURDY Act: dressers and tip-over
Clothing storage units — dressers, chests, wardrobes — sold in the US must meet the STURDY Act stability requirements, implemented through ASTM F2057-23. The test is a tip-over test with drawers open and a specified load; it is a design requirement, not a paperwork exercise. Products that fail need a design change, and the interlock or anti-tip hardware must be supplied with the unit.
If your range includes dressers, confirm ASTM F2057-23 testing before tooling. It is one of the few US rules that can force a mould change late in the process.
The document pack to request
Before you pay a deposit, ask for this pack. A supplier who serves the US market will already have it; one who has to improvise is telling you something.
| Document | What it proves | Who issues it |
|---|---|---|
| HTS classification (10-digit) and duty estimate | Which tariff lines and measures apply | Your customs broker |
| CARB Phase 2 / TSCA Title VI certificate | Panel formaldehyde compliance | Certifying body / panel mill |
| TB 117-2013 test report (or CAL 133 for contract) | Upholstery flammability | Accredited third-party lab |
| Prop 65 assessment and label artwork | Warning decision and wording | Lab / compliance consultant |
| Lacey Act declaration data | Species and harvest country | Supplier + importer filing |
| ISPM 15 stamp photos | Compliant wood packaging | Supplier |
| ASTM F2057-23 report (dressers) | Tip-over stability | Accredited lab |
| Product spec sheet, signed | Materials, dimensions, packing | Supplier |
Attach the pack to the purchase order, and make the balance payment conditional on the pre-shipment inspection confirming the shipped goods match the tested materials. The payment structure that makes this enforceable is covered in how to pay a Chinese supplier safely.
How to tell a real certificate from a fake
Counterfeit and recycled certificates are common enough that the document itself is not evidence. Three checks cost nothing:
- Verify the certificate number against the issuing body's database, not against a PDF the supplier sent you.
- Match the model and materials: certificate for model A does not cover model B, and a report for 32-density foam does not cover the 28-density version you actually ordered.
- Check the lab's accreditation (ISO 17025) and whether it is recognised for that specific test scope.
If a supplier cannot produce a verifiable certificate, that is a pricing decision you are making: either budget for testing yourself, or choose a supplier who already serves the US market. Our supplier verification checklist covers the factory-side checks that go with the paperwork.
FAQ
Do I pay Section 232 and Section 301 on the same shipment?
Where both apply, yes — the measures stack. Upholstered wooden furniture is the clearest example: roughly 6% ordinary duty, 25% Section 301 and 25% Section 232, for a combined rate around 50% in 2026. Both the 30% Section 301 step and the 30% Section 232 step for upholstered furniture are scheduled for 1 January 2027, so model 2027 orders at the higher rate.
Is CARB Phase 2 only for California?
No. California's limits were adopted nationally through the federal TSCA Title VI rule, so the same emission limits apply to composite wood products sold anywhere in the US. The California-specific part is the certification and labelling regime.
Does every furniture item need a Prop 65 warning?
No. A warning is required only where exposure to a listed chemical exceeds the safe-harbour level. Many products can be supported by material declarations and testing instead of a warning label. What you cannot do is skip the assessment — that is what the 60-day notices target.
How long does non-compliant cargo sit at the port?
Typically weeks, not days, while documentation is produced — and in serious cases the goods are re-exported or destroyed. The storage and demurrage cost falls on the importer, which is why the document pack should be closed before production, not before shipping.
Should I import from Vietnam instead?
Sometimes, but the compliance burden does not disappear: CARB/TSCA, TB 117-2013, Prop 65 and Lacey Act apply to the product regardless of origin, and Section 232 follows the product scope too. What changes is the Section 301 layer and, for some categories, AD/CVD exposure. Compare landed cost at the same specification before moving supply.
Buying furniture from China for the US market?
We check the compliance pack before the deposit, verify certificates against issuing bodies, confirm the tested materials match what ships, and inspect to AQL 2.5 before the balance is released. Factory price and our commission are shown as two separate numbers.