In America’s furniture capital, a mix of hope and fear as tariffs arrive

Rock House Farm Furniture, a 78-year-old North Carolina furniture maker, could benefit from new US tariffs on imports. But its CEO, Alex Shuford, is concerned unintended consequences may harm the broader ecosystem. CNN HICKORY, NC —

Ready or not, help is on the way for North Carolina’s beleaguered furniture manufacturers.

President Donald Trump is turning to his favorite weapon, massive tariffs on foreign goods slapped together with little notice, to revive furniture manufacturing in a state haunted by jobs shipped overseas over the past two decades.

Yet some furniture executives worry that this help from the federal government will do more harm than good to an industry grappling with notoriously thin profit margins, a shortage of skilled workers and whiplash from other tarif