After President Trump walked back substantial tariffs he placed on China in April, one of the furniture industry's top Made-in-America leaders reportedly said that domestic demand will stay strong. This belief comes despite the reduction in tariff levels against Chinese imports and the pause in implementing them.

Doug Bassett, president of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co., told Furniture Today that recent "ongoing uncertainty" around trade were having a positive impact on the company and predicted strong domestic demand. The Galaxy, Virginia-based company produces bedroom furniture at its U.S.-based furniture factories. The company, which ranks #100 on the FDMC 300 list of top North American wood products companies, operates two factories in Galaxy with a total manufacturing space of around 800,000 square feet.  

“We’re primarily a bedroom company, and very little bedroom comes out of China,” Bassett told Furniture Today. “Only about 5% of the bedroom imports to the United States come from China. Fifty-five percent come from Vietnam, and another 12% come from Malaysia.”

According to the Virginia Business publication Bassett said it’s limited as the company has very little exposure to China. “We have a handful of components, primarily our hardware, and I believe our drawer guides are sourced in China," he said. "So those are the two main components that we’re keeping an eye on.”

He added that the company prepared in advance of the original tariff hikes.

According to a Monday, May 12, joint statement from the White House and China, the two sides agreed to drastically roll back tariffs on each other’s goods for an initial 90-day period. The two countries said they recognized the "importance of their bilateral economic and trade relationship to both countries and the global economy."

According to a May 12 Woodworking Network report, China will remove the retaliatory tariffs announced on April 4, 2025, and will also suspend or remove the non-tariff countermeasures taken against the United States since April 2, 2025. China will also suspend its initial 34% tariff on the United States it announced on April 4, 2025, for 90 days, but will retain a 10% tariff during the period of the pause. In all, the U.S. will drop its tariffs from 145 percent to 30 percent, which includes Trump’s 20% fentanyl-related levies on China early this year, while China has committed to cut tariffs from 125% to 10%.