Loyal readers of this space—and the seven of you know who you are—realize that while we report on serious matters because business is nothing if not serious, we also seek levity and even laughter in the world of commerce.
So, while that thought written on a Post-it hangs off my desk lamp, let’s dive into the world of tariffs and how they may impact Corte Madera’s RH, the company formerly known as Restoration Hardware.
To begin with, tariffs are an issue because President Trump decided to wrest trade control from congress by declaring an emergency via the International Emergency Powers Act. Trump believes tariffs are money makers for the country, though the cost of those tariffs are often passed directly to consumers. They also injure companies who pay the tariffs on either goods or raw materials.
Want more intrigue? The White House has been probing the furniture industry since March with an eye toward increasing tariffs. At the end of August, the White House said the investigation would end in 50 days.
Oh, those wheels grind slowly.
This brings us to RH, the luxury branding and lifestyle company. In recent years, the company has expanded from couches that run $12k to the hospitality biz with hotels, restaurants and resorts. On the interior side, RH has always sourced most of its products overseas like others in the sector. According to the American Home Furnishings Alliance, the value of furnishings from countries like Vietnam and Malaysia imported to the U.S. totaled $15.4 billion last year. In June, just $450 million in furniture was imported, lowest total in more than 20 years.
In a June SEC filing, RH said it would only import 2% of its product from China, a decrease from 16% at the beginning of 2025. It’s also moving some furniture production to North Carolina.
In its latest SEC financial filing, RH wrote, “We have taken steps to move our supply chain away from countries with higher tariff rates in favor of other jurisdictions, but these countermeasures may prove to be ineffective and the ability to predict tariff rates in different countries may be difficult as policies may change on short notice.”
Left out of that sentence is this key thought, “our current president is batsh-t crazy and his knowledge of economics is an inch deep and a foot wide.”
Given RH’s core customer is not clipping coupons and shopping sales at Walmart, increased tariffs that are then passed direct to clients might not have the same impact as for those shopping bedroom sets at Ikea.
One factor making tariff impacts difficult to predict is Trump’s tendency to kick the can down the street. The guy behind the Resolute Desk has earned the moniker TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) when it comes to backing up his tough talk. You can almost hear him saying, “We’ll see.”
The U.S. courts are the other wildcard. At this writing, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a lower court ruling Trump doesn’t have unlimited authority to impose taxes on imports.
That court said in its ruling it expects 47 to run to the Supreme Court for a rescue and it left the tariffs in place for now.
Your Marin Moment
When consulting giant McKinsey & Co. offers you a report on the house, you sit down and listen—at least, if you’re the city of Mill Valley. This is how officials got some ideas on “urban vitality and the future of mobility.”
I won’t quibble with urban vitality, though Mill Valley is nothing if not suburban. When you’re getting a freebie, semantics take a back seat to good manners.
Thus, city officials put on the feed bag of knowledge and listened as the wisdom washed over them like steam from a hot tub.
This actually took place at the city library, which is one of those things that editors are picky about. Making up things if you’re a journalist is frowned upon. But if you’re the president of the United States, there are no such restrictions which explains dogs and cats getting eaten in Ohio and Trump bringing peace in seven wars.
Speaking of making things up, let me give a shoutout to Patrick Heij for his website Marin Lately. Heij, a writer of humor who is also the son of former SF Chron columnist Adair Lara, blends the Marin state of mind, with the philosophical bent of The Onion, and humor of Andy Borowitz. His imagination produces the stuff of belly laughs while skewering the land of organic milk and small batch honey.
Heather Knight of the New York Times recently ID’d Heij as the writer behind Marin Lately, with his permission. Knight covers SF and the North Bay for the Gray Lady and does a fabulous job.
