Two readers speak out on a polarizing issue
Ray Allegrezza, Editor in chief -- Furniture Today, August 18, 2003
Ever since the American Furniture Manufacturers Committee for Legal Trade announced plans to file an antidumping petition against wood bedroom furniture from China, we've received a flood of reaction from readers.
The petition, and the forthcoming rebuttal by the Chinese factories and allied importers, has polarized the industry as never before, and with good reason: jobs, fortunes and future livelihoods are riding on the outcome.
This week I received over a dozen e-mails from industry players on this issue. Not surprisingly, the comments were almost evenly split on whether or not the Chinese have been dumping.
Considering the magnitude of the issue, I've decided to turn this column into a forum for some comments from two of my correspondents.
One domestic manufacturer wrote that he finds the current uproar over Chinese products most curious. Our industry, he noted, is not the only one affected by the influx of offshore goods: "We have farmer friends with apple orchards, computer product companies, auto parts companies and other businesses with similar complaints about low labor costs and the lack of government-enforced overhead costs, which translate into lower consumer pricing. Many of those businesses are now closing and ending the jobs of their long-time employees."
The manufacturer pointed out that, as consumers, we haven't complained or "stopped buying at Wal-Mart, despite the fact that their inventory comes increasingly from China." He suggested the real culprits may not be Chinese furniture factories but the "brilliant people who engineered NAFTA and other global-connecting laws."
While arguing that free-trade laws may threaten the standard of living of millions of Americans, the manufacturer went on to say, "In the meantime, as many of your articles have preached, the best way to stay in business is to build a higher-quality product, deliver it faster, listen closely to our customers and build what they want. We have some advantages left, just not as many as before."
A plant engineer from a large domestic producer wrote, "I enjoyed your column concerning free-trade issues. I am interested in your take on the added costs imposed by the U.S. government on the furniture industry and how they are reconciled in the laws concerning free trade."
U.S. companies, he continued, spend millions of dollars complying with OSHA, EPA and other federal and state regulations. "These programs are important and I am not advocating their demise," he wrote. "The facts are that they cost money, which must be incorporated into the cost of any product. Until foreign competition must comply on those issues ... the words 'free trade' ring hollow to me."
This is just a small sampling of what some of you are thinking. As always, I want to know what's on your mind.
Let me hear from you!
