U.S. factories look for trade barrier protection
Jay McIntosh, News editor -- Furniture Today, June 2, 2003
Can U.S. manufacturers turn back the clock, or at least slow time down? Several of them, along with some economic development officials in areas where U.S. furniture factory jobs have disappeared, look like they'll give it a try.
A group so new it doesn't have a name, with representatives of nine companies including Lexington Home Brands and Best Chairs, met in Indiana last month to talk about how U.S. companies can compete with furniture imports. One of its conclusions was that the industry should look into seeking tariffs or duties on furniture imports, and on U.S. raw materials sent abroad for manufacture into case goods.
Those steps, of course, would make products like Chinese case goods more expensive here, cutting into their current price advantage over much U.S.-made furniture. It would take us back to the days when imports were less of a factor.
The new group may seek the support of the American Furniture Manufacturers Assn. and its contract counterpart, the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Assn. Coincidentally, the AFMA's board just voted to recommend that the association keep its membership requirements as is, meaning that import-only companies would still be excluded.
Who knows whether an effort at tariffs or duties — a China charge — would succeed? A trade official told the Indiana group that the chances are better if the industry can show it has been harmed by imports, and if there's widespread support in the industry.
The "harmed" question is clear, at least on the factory end. U.S. furniture factory jobs were estimated at 467,000 in April, down about 17% from the peak in September 2000. A slowing economy accounts for some of this shrinkage, although imports also surely contributed to the loss of 93,000 jobs.
Retailers and consumers would be less likely to claim they're harmed by access to lower-priced case goods, if that matters.
The Indiana group suggested that if Americans realized that U.S. furniture plants were closing, and knew about the wages, working conditions and lax environmental regulation at Asian plants, they would be willing to pay more for U.S.-made goods. But that is expecting too much from consumers — and from the popular press, which has more scary and titillating news to cover than the slow erosion of one more homegrown industry. I've never heard a widespread public outcry against foreign-made garments, which also have wiped out quite a few American factory jobs despite the textile and apparel industry's 19-year-old Crafted With Pride campaign.
Without the protection of tariffs or duties, or the extraordinary support of consumers, U.S. manufacturers will have to continue to compete in an increasingly brutal marketplace. The Indiana group suggested that American factories could cooperate to some degree, and taking advantage of government resources to help manufacturers.
One thing is clear from the Indiana meeting — U.S. furniture factories won't fade quietly away.
