A Romance armchair listed at €2,300 in Paris does not cost €2,300 once it is standing in a living room on the Upper West Side. Tariffs on European furniture in 2026 come on top of freight, insurance and entry fees, and for US buyers nobody explains them before the invoice arrives. We have a presence in New York and crates that cross the Atlantic. Here is what we know as of September 2026, what we do not know, and how we handle the question with an American client.
What changed in a year
Three things, and they add up. First: since August 29, 2025, the de minimis exemption, which let a package under $800 in without formalities, is gone. It was suspended indefinitely. In plain terms, a €350 Romance sconce and a €5,900 sofa now go through the same door: a formal customs entry, filed by a broker or a carrier on your behalf.
Second: on October 14, 2025, the United States opened a chapter of Section 232 duties on timber, lumber and their derivatives, including upholstered furniture with a wooden frame. The base rate is 25%. The increase to 30% that was scheduled for January 1, 2026, was pushed back a year by a proclamation signed on December 31, 2025. It is now announced for January 1, 2027, as this customs law firm summarizes.
Third, and this is the good news for a European piece: the US-EU framework agreement of August 21, 2025, caps the total duty on goods of EU origin at 15%, including wood products covered by Section 232. The joint statement is public. As of September 2026, a piece whose customs origin is inside the EU enters at 15% all-in, where a piece of another origin can carry 25%, then 30%.
Tariffs on European furniture in 2026: the one word that decides everything
The word is origin. The rate does not depend on the shipper's address, the city where the piece was drawn, or the currency on the invoice. It depends on the country where the piece was made in the customs sense, meaning where it underwent its last substantial transformation. An armchair drawn in Paris and shipped from Paris is not automatically "European" for US Customs if its frame was assembled elsewhere.
We hide nothing on this point. Our pieces are drawn in Paris and made to order. We give you the customs information needed for the entry before you order, so your broker can calculate correctly. A client who discovers the rate on delivery day is a client we lose. We would rather have a client who ran the numbers and ordered anyway.
The second subtlety is classification. An upholstered armchair, a lacquered table and a pendant light are not in the same box. Furniture falls under heading 9403 (9401 for seating), lighting under 9405. The Section 232 wood measures target upholstered wooden furniture and certain cabinetry; they do not target lighting. A Cardinal table lamp at €780 does not travel with the same duties as a Cardinal armchair at €1,472.
A €5,900 sofa delivered to New York, in numbers
Take the Romance sofa in off-white lacquer, €5,900 including French VAT on the shop, and run the numbers three ways. These are scenarios, not quotes. Rates move, brokers charge different fees, and the dollar does what it wants. Check with your broker before committing to anything.
- Scenario A, origin outside the EU, calculated on the listed price: 25% to 30% of €5,900, roughly €1,500 to €1,800 in duty (about $1,750 to $2,100 at a rough exchange rate), before freight and entry fees.
- Scenario B, EU origin, 15% ceiling on the listed price: about €885.
- Scenario C, EU origin, 15% applied to the export price without French VAT (a sale to a non-EU country is in principle invoiced without the 20% VAT, so about €4,917): about €740, or a little under $900.
The gap between scenario A and scenario C is more than a thousand euros on a single piece. On a restaurant project with ten armchairs and three sofas, it changes the budget. That is why we refuse to answer "around 20%" when someone asks. We answer with the customs information for the entry and a freight quote that says who pays what: transport, insurance, customs clearance, duty. We would rather write it down than have you find out on the doorstep.
The value US Customs uses is generally the transaction value, meaning the price actually paid for the goods. International freight and insurance are handled separately. Your broker will tell you exactly how the entry is declared; do not run the calculation on a delivered total.
Art, antiques, furniture: three different regimes
Clients who buy from Monde Singulier, the gallery, and from Monde Singulier Editions, the edited line, often ask us the question in one breath. It needs three answers.
Works of art, paintings and sculpture, enter the United States duty-free. A signed bronze therefore travels better than an armchair, which explains part of the strength of the American market for collectible design presented as sculpture. Antiques over one hundred years old have a regime of their own, with proof of age, at a lower rate than recent furniture (around 10% as of September 2026, to confirm with your broker). Furniture under one hundred years old, vintage included, is furniture: it pays the full rate for its category and its origin.
A 1955 chair and a 2026 chair drawn in Paris are therefore treated the same way at the Port of Newark. This surprises clients who assume vintage travels lighter. It travels just as heavy, with fewer guarantees.
How we handle an American order
We are not the cheapest, we do not deliver tomorrow, and we do not claim to make duties disappear. What we do is remove the bad surprises.
Before you order, we send the customs information needed for the entry and a white-glove freight quote to your address. For the United States, shipping is quoted, not calculated at checkout: the volume of a three-seat sofa and that of a Romance pendant do not call for the same solution. Payment is a deposit, then the balance before shipping, which leaves time to validate the figures with your broker. For New York architects and interior designers, the trade program puts all of this with one person.
One piece of advice we give often: consolidate. Since the end of de minimis, every commercial shipment generates an entry and fixed entry fees. A sconce shipped alone costs proportionally far more to clear than a sconce packed in the same crate as an armchair. A client planning to add a piece in six months is better off ordering everything at once, even if the payment is spread out.
Another: do not confuse the listed price with the export price. Our prices are public and include French VAT. For delivery outside the EU, ask us for the price without VAT. That is the figure duty is calculated on, and the figure that concerns you.
What this changes in choosing a piece
Very little, in our view, and this is the part clients underestimate. Fifteen percent on an armchair you will keep for twenty years comes to a little over €15 a year on a €2,300 Romance. The real cost of a mistake is not the duty. It is the armchair you stop liking after three years and cannot return, because a transatlantic furniture return makes sense for nobody.
Hence our insistence on fabric samples before ordering, on dimensions (a Romance sofa has to fit through a Manhattan doorway, often narrower than a Haussmann one), and on a call with the founder before confirming. Those three steps cost nothing and prevent the only expense that matters.
Questions we get asked
What is the tariff rate on French furniture in the US in 2026?
For a piece of EU origin in the customs sense, the framework agreement of August 21, 2025, caps the total duty at 15%, including upholstered furniture covered by Section 232. For a piece of another origin, upholstered wooden furniture carries 25%, with an increase to 30% announced for January 1, 2027. Check with your broker; rates change.
Do lamps pay the same duty as furniture?
No. Lighting is classified separately (heading 9405) and is not covered by the Section 232 wood measures. For a piece of EU origin, the 15% ceiling applies in any case. A Romance pendant and a Romance armchair are not treated the same way at the border.
Does Monde Singulier Editions pay the duty for me?
We give you a quote that states who pays what: freight, insurance, clearance and duty. The most common arrangement is that the importer pays duty at entry, through a broker or the carrier. If you would rather have one all-in price delivered to your door, tell us before ordering and we will price what we can.
Is vintage furniture taxed less than new furniture?
No, unless it is over one hundred years old and its age is documented, in which case it falls under the antiques regime. A piece from the 1950s or 1970s is ordinary furniture for US Customs and pays the rate for its category and origin.
The pieces we ship across the Atlantic are in the Romance and Cardinal collections.