Maybe it was the timing.

Just one week ago, it was possible for long-suffering home industry execs to believe that the chaos of hot tariff summer was over, import duties were set, and everyone could get back to business come fall. A relaxing late-summer weekend beckoned. Then, posting to Truth Social at 4:19 p.m. on Friday, August 22, President Trump unleashed a surprise twist.

“I am pleased to announce that we are doing a major Tariff Investigation on Furniture coming into the United States,” he wrote. “Within the next 50 days, that Investigation will be completed, and Furniture coming from other Countries into the United States will be Tariffed at a Rate yet to be determined. This will bring the Furniture Business back to North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, and States all across the Union.”

The reaction was immediate, and severe. Furniture stocks—RH, Wayfair, Williams-Sonoma—dropped precipitously in after-hours trading. Meanwhile, the industry grapevine lit up in shock. Communication with Business of Home editors included phrases like “stunning and stupid,” “WTAF,” and a prediction of “50 days of hell.”

The “Liberation Day” tariffs that were rolled out in stop-start fashion over the summer have already ignited plenty of angst. But the reaction to Trump’s promised furniture tariffs has felt a little more public, forceful and sustained. Cyril Jefferson, the mayor of High Point, North Carolina, issued a statement criticizing the potential tariffs. On LinkedIn, insiders weighed in with exasperation. One post, by an executive vice president at Jofran, began, “I am mentally exhausted.” It was liked more than 200 times.

By now, BOH readers will be familiar with the reasons that many in the industry would not welcome high blanket tariffs on home product. The majority of furniture sold in the U.S. is imported, and new duties would likely lead to more price hikes at a time when the home industry is still struggling to shake its post-pandemic hangover. If those price hikes scare off consumers, that hurts retailers, which boomerangs back on importers and even domestic manufacturers—a painful feedback loop.

Or, more simply, it just makes things a little worse. “We, as an industry, have been through the wringer. Surely we can deal with most things that come our way,” Lee Mayer, founder and CEO of Havenly Brands, tells BOH. “But unfortunately, given near-term capacity in the U.S., I think consumers may [be headed for] hurt in the long term, in terms of availability and price.”

Beneath the familiar logic of “tariffs = price hikes” are other factors. The home industry has spent the past five months frantically adjusting to a chaotic tariff policy. By August, it seemed as though the Liberation Day tariffs—like them or not—were locked in place, and it was time to adjust and focus on the future: a potential interest rate cut in September, green shoots in a dismal housing market, and the rise of the millennial as furniture’s core customer. Trump’s announcement last Friday upended that sense of resolution, sending many back to the drawing board in a foul mood.

“Honestly, just frustration,” was the reaction of one executive, who asked not to be named in order to speak candidly. “Republicans used to be pro-business. How are we supposed to be running our business if every few weeks we get a Truth Social post that completely changes the economic dynamic?”

Another twist of the plot is Trump’s promise that higher tariffs would bring back furniture manufacturing to the U.S. “like magic.” The offshoring of the industry in the 1990s and 2000s remains a politically powerful wound for many swaths of the Southeast, and the president made similar vows on the campaign trail in North Carolina. Much of it was met with applause—and it’s possible that furniture tariffs are getting more positive reviews on the remaining North Carolina factory floors than they are in High Point C-suites.

The picture there is complex. Among industry observers, there is near-universal agreement that case goods manufacturing cannot return to the U.S. at scale without massive government subsidies—and even then, it would take years. Factories would need to be built and equipment purchased en masse; and a new generation would need to be trained to do the work, not to mention paid well enough to entice them away from other careers.

That reality has contributed to the sense of anger over the latest tariff announcement—the idea that the president would risk tanking an industry over what many view as a nostalgic pipe dream. However, especially when it comes to upholstery, which has remained a relatively strong domestic manufacturing category, some companies have already seen a tangible benefit from tariffs, and are thinking more optimistically about the latest announcement.

“We’re becoming even more competitive, and customers are coming to us and saying, ‘Hey, what can we do with you?’ I think overall we’re seeing a lot of positive things,” says Veronica Schnitzius, president of Dallas-based upholstery brand American Leather. She has hired roughly 60 new employees since the spring, and may double that by the end of the year.

Like many, Schnitzius is skeptical that U.S. furniture manufacturing can return quickly—she pointed to Covid as an example of the challenges of a sudden surge of demand—but she’s also cautiously optimistic that American Leather will see continued growth on the back of new trade policy. “Part of me is [worried] this is going to make some retailers cringe, big-time. I think [having product at] different price points helps us,” she says. “But my initial reaction was: ‘Good. Let’s see how this changes things.’”

Meganne Wecker, CEO of Chicago-area upholstery maker Skyline Furniture, says that tariffs have already sparked conversations with retailers that might have otherwise sourced abroad. In many cases, she’s found that the key differentiator for her domestically produced product is less about a price point and more about buyers seeking certainty amid the tumult. “We’re winning business for future programs because people just don’t want to deal with the in-between. They need to get business done, and they just can’t think about it any longer,” she explains.

However, Wecker is carefully weighing whatever the edge tariffs might give her against the potential disruption they might cause. “It is good,” she says. “But I think it would be foolish to not recognize that the impact the entire industry takes with this will also affect us.”