By Claudia Trotman

Copyright dailystar

Donald Trump has chosen his next online rant victim – and this time its in the form of flat pack furniture. It appears Swedish homeware giant Ikea could come under trouble after the US president announced his latest policy. Taking to his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said : “In order to make North Carolina, which has completely lost its furniture business to China, and other Countries, GREAT again, I will be imposing substantial Tariffs on any Country that does not make its furniture in the United States. Details to follow!!! President DJT”. Ikea have 50 stores around the US – including two in North Carolina. This means, US citizens looking to pick up a new Billy Bookcase or a set of Malm drawers could be hit with a hefty price tag. Trump did not clarify how much the tariffs would be – but his last tariff rant saw him threaten to slap China with over 100% tariffs on their goods. The country threatened to do the same – but they eventually came to a truce. Tariffs are taxes on imported goods. Typically, the charge is a percentage of a good’s value. For example, a 10% tariff on a $10 product would mean a $1 tax on top – taking the total cost to $11 (£8.13). The tax is paid to the government by companies bringing in the foreign products. Eventually it is thought the extra payment would trickle down to the average consumer, who would be forced to pay an inflated price for their products. Now, a Billy Bookcase is priced at $73.85 (£55), but with a 50% tariff, some Americans could end up paying over $100 (£74) for the same product. Earlier this year, Trump put a pause on his trade war, but appeared to not back down from his tariff war with China. Global markets surged following the development, but the US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said Trump will keep 10% baseline tariffs on most countries while escalating action against China. “I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately,” the Orange Manbaby wrote on his Truth Social media platform. Bessent and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said they were with Trump when he wrote the post. “The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction,” Lutnick said on X. Bessent added that the markets “didn’t understand” Trump tariff strategy. “The market didn’t understand, those were maximum levels. The countries can think about those levels as they come to us to bring down their tariffs, their non-trade barriers,” he told reporters at the White House. He said Trump “created maximum negotiating leverage for himself” and the Chinese have “shown themselves to the world as the bad actors”. For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters .