The latest global destabilisation, Trump’s tariffs, deflagrates while the Salone del Mobile was taking place in Milan – from 8 to 13 April 2025. From the world’s most important event for furniture and design, here are the concerned and realistic comments of some exhibitors
by Maria Vittoria Galeazzi
As if immersed in a fog bank, the market has lost its ability to see into the future. There are so many unknowns and international imbalances fuelled by wars, customs wars, threats and claims by world leaders oscillating between protectionist policies and liberalisation. A climate of fear and insecurity also permeated the Salone del Mobile, a landmark event for the design world, which took place in Milan (photo Imagoeconomica) from 8 to 13 April 2025, in the midst of Trump’s destabilising announcements on Liberation Day (2 April) and subsequent extensions on 9 April.
Impossible to plan
The instability generated by the US tariffs adds to an already existing state of uncertainty. “From one day to the next, everything changes. In this new scenario, we cannot predict what to do. It is very worrying because it is not possible to plan as we did before,’ we are told from the stand of Turkish high-end furniture brand Mobi Furniture & Interiors. The inability to plan strategies and investments leads to export differentiation. “We are also approaching other markets, such as the Persian Gulf countries and Africa, targeting the high luxury segment. Above all, Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, and Benin are places where there are many high-spending customers,’ explains Mobi. ‘We have to look for these markets to support us in case the western markets become impracticable’.
Concern and uncertainty
Beyond directly suffering the axe of duties, a market already tested by the Russian-Ukrainian war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is experiencing a moment of general imbalance. “Maybe our product will not be affected by the duties because it is very high-end, but I am worried about everything else,” says Albino Celato, owner of De Castelli, which specialises in metal furniture cladding. “It is a situation of insecurity to which the stock exchanges have already reacted negatively. For the time being, the problem cannot be directly touched, but the uncertainty can be felt. The Salone del Mobile is the most important fair in the sector and has an international appeal that works. There remains, however, the unknown from the outside, with respect to the global political choices over which we cannot influence”.
Russia, Israel, USA
“The Russian-Ukrainian conflict had already unbalanced everything. The Ukrainian market stopped, and we had a big customer there who closed and the Russian market disappeared,’ Celato continues. ‘Then we started working again with Russians who went to live worldwide. After that, the same thing happened in Israel: another market stopped by the war’. You have to constantly shift your business with different investments and market logics. “Now the Arab market, like Dubai and Kuwait, is working well. We do our duty and continue to believe in our work. But this view of war as a logic of solution for me means going back decades.”
Fear and expectation
There is also concern among Italian brands specialising in leather, such as the Oscarmaschera brand, which has its main market in the US. ‘Alas,’ comments CEO Benedetta Ballarini, ‘we still don’t know what Trump’s decisions will entail. In concrete terms, we have not yet had a market response. It is more of a fear. Let’s wait and see. We are not alarmed for now, but now we are definitely starting to evaluate the emerging economies more carefully’.
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