EU tariffs on Chinese goods: safeguards now extend to furniture

FRIDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2026

After chemicals and machinery, Brussels is weighing caps or duties on Chinese furniture too, with proposals possible from the first quarter of 2027. On 29 October Beijing threatened "all necessary measures".

EU tariffs on Chinese goods: after chemicals and machinery, furniture has joined the list of possible EU safeguards. According to reports published on Monday 26 October, the Commission could present the measures as early as the first quarter of 2027, as import caps or as duties on volumes above a threshold, and on Thursday 29 October Beijing replied by threatening countermeasures.

EU tariffs on Chinese goods: the Brussels plan

According to people familiar with the matter quoted by Bloomberg, the European Union is preparing to use safeguard measures to cut imports from China in sectors including chemicals, furniture and machinery. A safeguard is the tool the World Trade Organization allows when imports in a sector surge suddenly and harm domestic producers: this is why the Commission is going through trade data looking for increases of that kind. Two forms are possible: a quota, meaning a cap on incoming volumes, or a tariff-rate quota, which charges an extra duty only on quantities above the threshold.

A Commission spokesperson declined to comment. Neither the list of sectors nor the timetable is final: both may change after talks with member states and with Beijing.

These are the numbers in the file:

• Sectors named in the reports of 26 October: chemicals, furniture and machinery, plus other unspecified sectors.
• Timing: proposals possible as early as the first quarter of 2027, according to the same sources.
• Reference model: the cap agreed with Beijing on Chinese hybrid cars, 350,000 vehicles a year.
• EU trade deficit with China in 2025, goods only: about 360 billion euros.
• Countermeasures announced by China on 29 October: none in detail, only a pledge to take "all necessary measures".

The hybrid car model

The Commission would like to repeat what it did with hybrid cars: an import cap agreed with China, set at a level high enough not to trigger retaliation. For other sectors, however, the EU can also act alone, without Beijing's consent. At the European Council in mid-October President Ursula von der Leyen had already said that industry had called for action and that the Union would respond "including some more safeguards". What is new since then is twofold: furniture appears, a consumer goods sector, and there is a first indication of timing.

Beijing's response

On Thursday 29 October, at its regular press conference, Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Huang Ling responded to reports that the hybrid model might be extended to other sectors. If the EU insists on discriminatory restrictions on Chinese products, she said, China will take "all necessary measures" to defend its interests and those of its companies. According to the ministry, barriers of this kind may breach WTO rules, do not strengthen European competitiveness and raise costs for downstream industries and inflation in the EU. Huang Ling also restated China's willingness to talk, pointing to the second meeting of the EU-China trade and investment consultation mechanism. Which countermeasures, however, was not said.

What it means for furniture and component importers

No duty changes today: a container of chairs or wardrobes cleared next week pays the same rates as yesterday. The reports do not say which customs headings would be hit or at what level, but they signal that a consumer goods sector is entering the discussion for the first time, and it is worth taking this into account for orders delivered after March 2027.

Three practical steps. The first is to know exactly which customs chapter your items fall under: furniture is mostly in chapter 94, but parts, fittings and upholstery may carry different codes, and a safeguard applies by code. The second concerns the quota: when a cap runs out mid-period, whoever clears afterwards pays the extra duty even on an order signed months earlier, so it makes sense to bring forward the year's key shipments rather than bunching them at the end of a quarter. The third concerns alternative suppliers: under WTO rules a safeguard in principle applies to imports from all countries, and according to the reports this one would also apply to countries outside the European Economic Area. Moving the order from China to Vietnam, then, may not be enough to avoid it.

The next steps

Before any measure, the Commission must open a safeguard investigation with a public notice: that is the document to watch, because it lists the products and codes concerned. By mid-December proposals are also expected on the supplier diversification tool and on the instrument to restrict access to the single market, both discussed at the October summit.

With La Merce, anyone ordering furniture, seating or home furnishings in China for delivery in 2027 starts by checking the customs code against the sectors named on 26 October and the shipping calendar, so a possible first-quarter quota does not land on an order already in production.

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