US Trade Commission votes to maintain high tariffs on Chinese wood furniture!

Recently, five members of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) voted unanimously to maintain the current U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made wooden furniture. The decision is part of a tariff review process that requires reconsideration of tariff settings every five years. The United States began imposing tariffs on Chinese-made wooden furniture in 2005, when Americans believed that the move "saved American furniture companies."

"Revocation of existing anti-dumping tariff orders on imports of wooden bedroom furniture from China could result in the continuation or recurrence of substantial harm within a reasonably foreseeable period," the U.S. International Trade Commission said.
U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made wooden furniture began in 2005, when furniture maker John Bassett III tried to save the local furniture industry from cheap Chinese imports. John Bassett III ran the Vaughan-Bassett Family Company in Virginia and North Carolina. The Vaughan Bassett Furniture Company was founded in 1919 and has a history of over a century. All of the company's furniture is made in the United States by American employees, and it is now the largest manufacturer of wooden adult bedroom furniture in the United States.
The Alliance for American Manufacturing noted: "Bassett Furniture has spent years trying to prove that Chinese companies stole his company's designs and used a series of unfair trade practices to weaken his market position." What happened to Vaughan Bassett Furniture is common to U.S. manufacturers, it`s just that most of the time, they don`t end up surviving. The U.S. lost about 3.7 million jobs between 2001 and 2018, which can be attributed to Because of our trade deficit with China. The U.S. furniture industry has been hit especially hard; from 2000 to 2002, Chinese furniture imports grew 121 percent, and by 2003, U.S. furniture manufacturing lost 73,000 jobs."
In 2020, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond detailed in a report that from 1999 to 2009, North Carolina`s furniture industry lost half of its value due to the U.S. free trade policy toward China. above jobs.

The report also noted that the U.S.-China Bilateral WTO Agreement, signed in November 1999, lowered U.S. tariff barriers and opened the door for China to join the WTO. "The increase in Chinese imports has proven to have a significant impact on U.S. manufacturing employment, particularly in furniture manufacturing in North Carolina."
North Carolina is located in the center of the East Coast of the United States and is the heartland of the American furniture industry. There are the world's largest High Point Home Furnishings Fair, the world's largest furniture store Furnitureland South and the largest furniture manufacturer Ashley Furniture. It is an important origin of many woods such as boxwood and southern pine. The strategic location and unique natural resources have helped North Carolina build the largest furniture manufacturing industry in the United States. There are more than 3,000 related enterprises and organizations in the state, forming a complete industrial cluster. The furniture production activities in the state are dense, and its concentration is more than three times the national average.