WASHINGTON — Several furniture companies have been denied exclusions for products covered under the $200 billion on Chinese products affected by 25% tariffs.
In the denials, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said, they had failed to show how the tariffs would cause economic harm to the company or its customers. Or they failed to show that the product in question is not available outside China.
However, the USTR made it clear that those same companies could receive an exclusion if another company receives an exclusion for the same product.
Those decisions are expected in the coming weeks. While a firm deadline was not immediately clear, the U.S. government is still reviewing exclusion requests for companies such as Ashley Furniture, Bernhardt, Cheyanne Products, Currey & Company, JLA Home, Jamie Young Company, Janus et Cie, Rooms To Go and Stork Craft, to name several.
The exclusion requests named various products ranging from cut-and-sew kits to office and motion furniture. The requests also detailed on why each resource was seeking an exclusion.
Among the issues presented:
- Difficulty in sourcing such products in the U.S. and that other countries outside China either did not have an experienced labor force necessary to produce such products.
- Moving the products would prove extremely difficult, as materials used to build them — such as a specific species of rattan — are not available outside China.
- Building nursery rockers outside China would be very difficult as it would take a long time to get other source countries up to speed on building them up to U.S. standards. The company said in its request that it also was unable to secure wood necessary to make sure that product was safe for children and nursing mothers.
- One company said it had traveled to India and Vietnam and had contacted multiple sources in Mexico to build wooden household furniture. It said it was unable to move the production of this product due to lack of capability. It also cited material compliance issues.
The company added that sourcing in the U.S. is far too expensive and would require longer manufacturing times and that the few resources in the U.S. do not have “adequate capabilities for design, quantity and price to sustain an industry servicing home décor retailers across the country and in all price sectors.”
It went on to say, “We hope it will be recognized that the sudden tariff and duty on furniture products is a large burden to the U.S. consumer. Although there are furniture manufacturers in the U.S., they do not make the same types of pieces, at the same lead-time, nor at the same price point. The U.S. manufacturers make beautiful, well-made furniture, but there is also a need for less expensive alternatives for U.S. families.”
One major retailer seeking an exclusion for modular sectionals and motion furniture said that high-quality upholstered motion furniture is not widely produced in the United States and falls far short of the quantity it needs.
“In addition, nearly all the components needed to produce upholstered motion furniture — including mechanisms, fabrics and leathers — are imported to domestic production facilities from Asian countries,” the retailer said. “Because of this longstanding reliance on third country component production, domestically produced components are virtually unavailable, meaning that U.S. production of the upholstered motion furniture cannot be rapidly expanded, if at all. Moreover, production of upholstered motion furniture is labor intensive, leading to quickly escalating production costs in the United States.”
For more detailed information on the exclusion requests, visit the following links:
For tariffs on $200 billion in China-made product, https://exclusions.ustr.gov/s/docket?docketNumber=USTR-2019-0005
For tariffs on the remaining $300 billion in China made product, https://exclusions.ustr.gov/s/docket?docketNumber=USTR-2019-0017
The deadline for submitting an exclusion request for this group of products is Jan. 31, 2020. To submit an exclusion request, go to https://exclusions.ustr.gov/portal/s/login/?startURL=%2Fportal%2Fs%2Fsubmit-new-exclusion-request%3FdocketNumber%3DUSTR-2019-0017&ec=302
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