Hillary Clinton was visiting High Point, North Carolina yesterday.  High Point is a furniture hub and show rooms
dot the streets of the town. “I will get tough on China because what they are doing is not right,” said the Democratic candidate.

Hillary rightfully singled out China for causing the loss of thousands of jobs in NC furniture industry.  A study done for AAM called “Enforcing the Rules” cited the wooden furniture manufacturers in the U.S. among its case studies of various industries affected by the unfair trade with China.

In 2001, the U.S. industry recorded shipments $2.3 billion dollars and employed approximately 33,000 workers.  At the same time, the furniture industry in China started to expand rapidly, with a large share of production targeted toward the U.S. market.  In 2003, the U.S. International Trade Commission investigated the possible dumping of Chinese-made wooden furniture on the U.S. market.

The Commission surveyed the U.S. furniture makers.  Of the 54 U.S. producers from 23 states that responded to the US ITC’s producers’ questionnaire during the investigation of dumped wooden bedroom furniture from China, ten (the most) were headquartered in North Carolina.  The firms responding to the Commission’s questionnaire indicated that between 2001 and 2003, China’s capacity to produce wooden bedroom furniture had doubled, shipments to the U.S. market increased by 147 percent, and exports to the United States accounted for approximately three quarters of these firms’ total shipments. This growth has occurred despite a high incidence of quality problems with Chinese furniture.

Despite the enormous pressure from the Chinese furniture makers and their U.S. distributors, the Commission ruled in 2003, by a vote of 6 – 0, that the U.S. industry was materially injured by dumped imports from China.

The first step to fixing a problem is acknowledging we have a problem.  Hillary Clinton says that she understands the consequences of the unfair trade with China for U.S.industries and communities across the nation.  The next President, whoever he or she may be, must take a serious look at U.S.-China trade relationship and finally take the necessary steps to benefit the American workers.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Holding China Accountable, Enforcing Trade Laws. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.