CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday told investors that he believes domestic furniture production is largely a thing of the past, even as President Donald Trump continues his efforts to make companies manufacture in the U.S.
“Some of these industries aren’t probably going to come back,” he said. “Companies will tell you that you can’t just invent a workforce that knows how to make upholstery. That ship’s sailed.”
Last week, Trump announced the administration had begun an investigation into furniture imports. Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that the inquiry would be completed within the next 50 days and that furniture from abroad would be subject to tariffs “at a rate yet to be determined.” He said this action would bring the furniture business back to states like North Carolina, South Carolina and Michigan.
But to Cramer, it’s unlikely those states will return to being hubs of furniture production because the U.S. has favored a cheaper import supply chain for years. This system is “the bargain of globalization,” he said, where the U.S. sacrificed domestic jobs in exchange for inexpensive goods.
He pinpointed Wayfair, RH and Williams-Sonoma as leading furniture makers that source heavily from other countries.
Cramer mentioned that Wayfair in particular does the bulk of its manufacturing abroad, suggesting that higher tariffs would only lead to price hikes on products, not a resurgence of domestic production. While RH and Willams-Sonoma are taking steps to increase domestic manufacturing, Cramer said it is difficult for them to find skilled labor that can make high-quality items. He suggested U.S. workers who made furniture have “simply moved on to other things, or they retired,” and tariffs won’t be enough to bring them back.
However, he said tariffs could actually bode well for Ethan Allen, which has said it makes 75% of its products domestically. The furniture company might be at an advantage if it keeps prices low while competitors implement hikes to compensate for tariffs, Cramer said. But that dynamic isn’t likely to make a big difference in the long run, he suggested.
While the federal investigation was launched under a national security statute, Cramer said he doesn’t think furniture trading necessarily fits into that category. He suggested it’s more important to U.S. security to make goods like semiconductors or rare earth minerals domestically.
“At the end of the day, I’m skeptical that we can bring back the American furniture industry as we remember it, and even if we could…would it be worth the cost?” Cramer asked. “I don’t know. It’s not, like, a national security need for tables and chairs.”
