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Chinese exporters of furniture face tariffs from U.S.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2001960066_chinatariff19.html ^ | 6/19/04 | Mark Drajem

Posted on 06/19/2004 8:30:52 PM PDT by take

Chinese exporters of furniture face tariffs from U.S.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Commerce Department slapped tariffs of as much as 198 percent on imported bedroom furniture from China, a decision that could cut the $1 billion a year of those imports and may raise prices for consumers.

Most of the largest exporters of furniture, representing 80 percent of U.S. imports, will pay tariffs of 24 percent or less, with 82 of the companies paying an 11 percent tariff, according to the Commerce Department.

"The duties could have been a whole lot worse," Mike Veitenheimer, a vice president for furniture retailer Bombay Co., which opposed the duties, said in an interview. Still, the thousands of companies not singled out will pay the 198 percent, and they "are going to be put out of business."

The tariffs begin next week. Yesterday's decision is preliminary and there are still two more rulings needed to formalize the tax, which would last for five years or more.

"The illegal dumping by the Chinese has devastated the U.S. bedroom industry," said John Bassett, chief executive of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture.

Since President Bush took office three years ago, some 35,000 wood-furniture workers, or 28 percent of the work force, have lost their jobs, the U.S. companies say.

Opponents of the protection, including nearly half the U.S. furniture industry, say that the tariffs won't restore U.S. workers' jobs, although they might help shift production from China to Vietnam or other Asian nations.

The Bush administration said that yesterday's ruling shows that it's cracking down on trade it labels illegal.

"We've had a lot of Chinese cases and we expect to have more," said James Jochum, assistant secretary of commerce for import administration.

China has denied unfairly selling its goods.

"We sold furniture to the U.S. based on fair market practices," Cao Yingchao, secretary general of China National Furniture Association in Beijing, said before the decision. "We deny any charge that we sold our wooden furniture in the U.S. at below cost."

He said he would urge Chinese producers to appeal.

Bedroom-furniture imports from China increased 121 percent from 2000 to 2002, and another 54 percent in the first six months of last year from 2002. Furniture makers such as Bassett, Stanley and Hooker Furniture say that increase threatens to put them out of business.

Imports of furniture from China and other low-wage countries rose to 33 percent in 2001 from 1 percent in 1972, according to a study by Andrew Bernard, an economist at Dartmouth University. They are likely to increase to 57 percent by 2011, he said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cafta; chinese; free; furniture; government; nafta; trade; world; wto
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To: Regulator

You are so right


21 posted on 06/19/2004 9:10:22 PM PDT by take
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To: quantim

They are Socialists Government !!


22 posted on 06/19/2004 9:12:52 PM PDT by take
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To: take
They are Socialists Government !!

Who cares.  We are free.  We are free to choose.  That's why we can 'shop' for whatever we want to buy.  Don't like furniture from China?  Don't buy it.  Have you bought a Chinese car lately?  How about a Chinese PC?  Enough said.

23 posted on 06/19/2004 9:18:31 PM PDT by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute.)
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To: quantim

China issues more Internet regulations

Sat Jun 19, 5:53 AM ET Add Top Stories - AFP to My Yahoo!



BEIJING (AFP) - China's Internet police stepped up an ongoing campaign to control the web by issuing new measures to crackdown on "unhealthy" Internet content, state press said.


AFP/file Photo



A circular issued by the Ministry of Information Industry has unveiled a series of measures to regulate content, crackdown on unregistered Internet bars and step up controls over online bulletin boards and chatrooms, Xinhua news agency said.


The measures will also ensure that Internet information providers refrain from spreading "information threatening national security or social stability," or containing superstitious or erotic content, it said.


"The public will be mobilized to supervise content on the Internet. A reporting system shall be established for complaints on lewd and pornographic information on the Internet," it added.


Chinese websites, Internet service providers (ISPs) and other Internet-related organizations were also urged to sign an agreement setting up principles of "self-discipline" and self-policing of the Internet, Xinhua said in a separate article.


"The basic principles of self-discipline for the Internet industry are patriotism, observance of the law, fairness and trustworthiness," it said.


China last week launched a website, net.china.cn, entitled the Illegal and Harmful Content Reporting Center, for people to complain if they have seen something they believe is unlawful on the Internet.


It follows the introduction of a slew of measures to curb online activities in the communist country, which now has about 80 million Internet users.


Earlier this month, state media reported that the government had suspended the registration of new Internet cafes, following a three-month sweep in which it closed 16,000 existing ones.


Justifying its tough policies, China often cites the argument that the young should not be exposed to violence or pornography through the Internet.


However, many observers believe the regime is just as worried about the disruptive effects of exposure to alternative sources of news and views about sensitive political subjects.


The drive against the Internet coincides with a recently launched push to raise ethical standards among the young.






24 posted on 06/19/2004 9:19:14 PM PDT by take
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To: quantim

Are you nuts


25 posted on 06/19/2004 9:19:57 PM PDT by take
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To: take
Furniture makers such as Bassett, Stanley and Hooker Furniture say that increase threatens to put them out of business.

Terrible fate to await fine old American companies, is it not?

26 posted on 06/19/2004 9:21:30 PM PDT by Old Professer (lust; pure, visceral groin-grinding, sweat-popping, heart-pounding staccato bursts of shooting stars)
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To: quantim

Would you believe that you can buy a 50# anvil made in China at your local harbor Freight tool store for less than $50.00 and Fed Ex would charge you almost $20.00 to ship it across town?


27 posted on 06/19/2004 9:24:46 PM PDT by Old Professer (lust; pure, visceral groin-grinding, sweat-popping, heart-pounding staccato bursts of shooting stars)
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To: quantim

The China trade-off

Originally published June 17, 2004
IN THE PAST YEAR, some large foreign investors were for the first time allowed to enter China's domestic stock market to buy shares of Chinese firms. This includes shares of part of Norinco, China North Industries Group - a transnational conglomerate that was founded by the People's Liberation Army, that retains strong military ties, that makes everything from baby shoes to missiles, and that has drawn U.S. sanctions for arming Iran.
Given the lack of disclosure in China, foreign investors and technology traders with Norinco and other Chinese firms cannot know if their resources will end up serving China's long-term, well-coordinated strategic plan to compete with American economic, military and political power. That potential danger is the basis for the very strong alarms sounded this week by the U.S-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a bipartisan congressional group monitoring U.S.-China relations.

In its wide-ranging annual report, the commission warns that rapidly increasing trade, investment and technology flows between the two nations are far too lopsided in China's favor - eroding U.S. economic strength, abetting China's military build-up and its development as a high-tech manufacturing platform, and potentially threatening U.S. security interests. Worse, the commission found that the U.S. government often is far too blind to these hazards in arguably its most important long-term relationship.

The report will be criticized by some for demonizing Beijing just as the West is penetrating Chinese markets and succeeding in dramatically drawing China into the community of nations. But in general, the case for "urgent attention and course corrections" to U.S. policies on China is well made.

For starters, the commission is urging the United States to use the World Trade Organization to more aggressively press China on its undervalued currency and on state subsidies for export manufacturers, both underlying factors in America's $124 billion trade deficit with China last year. It also recommends comprehensive monitoring of: advanced technology transfers to China via U.S. investments, joint ventures and research and development projects; China's U.S. investments; and bilateral exchange and education programs.

The lengthy commission report paints a picture of China leveraging the short-term financial ambitions of diverse U.S. interests to capture money and technology vital to its highly focused, long-term goal of trumping the United States - and of the U.S. government at best adrift in monitoring and managing its side of this imbalanced and critically important relationship. It's a caution worth the highest attention


28 posted on 06/19/2004 9:27:16 PM PDT by take
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To: take

***Bedroom-furniture imports from China increased 121 percent from 2000 to 2002, ******

What I've noticed is the Chinese furniture is made with REAL WOOD!


29 posted on 06/19/2004 9:27:27 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (DEMS STILL LIE like yellow dogs.)
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To: take

If the entry of a new competitor in a market can suddenly cause all other companies to go out of business, it speaks volumes about the quality of those businesses. Hint: they aren't very good.


30 posted on 06/19/2004 9:28:08 PM PDT by Terpfen (Re-elect Bush; kill terrorists now, fix Medicare later.)
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To: Regulator

"may raise prices for consumers"

"No it won't. The retail prices charged in the U.S. hardly reflect the difference in cost between U.S. goods and Chinese. There's a small difference, just enough to undercut the U.S. goods. Why should they pass on the savings? They know people will buy just because they save 5%. They pocket the difference, and it's a big difference. The dumping isn't showing up in furniture store showrooms - it's on the bills to the wholesalers, who are cleaning up."

What else should we expect from someone called "Regulator"?


31 posted on 06/19/2004 9:29:08 PM PDT by SpyderTim
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Comment #32 Removed by Moderator

Comment #33 Removed by Moderator

Comment #34 Removed by Moderator

To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

We sent china the WOOD!


35 posted on 06/19/2004 9:42:55 PM PDT by take
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To: ETERNAL WARMING
"Free traitors." I like the term
36 posted on 06/19/2004 10:24:59 PM PDT by asmith92008 (If we buy into the nonsense that we always have to vote for RINOs, we'll just end up taking the horn)
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To: quantim
Actually, China is getting to roll it's auto line out. And can we choose if they undercut the U.S. prices so much that the factories are forced to outsource or die?
37 posted on 06/19/2004 10:26:53 PM PDT by asmith92008 (If we buy into the nonsense that we always have to vote for RINOs, we'll just end up taking the horn)
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To: Terpfen
You could be the best business in the world but if your competitor can pay its workers pennies on the dollar, then you're dead.
38 posted on 06/19/2004 10:28:29 PM PDT by asmith92008 (If we buy into the nonsense that we always have to vote for RINOs, we'll just end up taking the horn)
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To: take

This is just an election year ploy. Raise the tariff just a little bit, so there are minimal increases in the furniture prices. At the same time, it appears that the government is doing something.

Of course, this will probably lead to a trade war and hurt American companies that export stuff to China.

Personally, I think the better solution is to tell the Chinese that we expect them to buy more American products to even out the trade deficit.


39 posted on 06/19/2004 10:44:29 PM PDT by Fishing-guy (AL)
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To: Fishing-guy
This is just an election year ploy. Raise the tariff just a little bit, so there are minimal increases in the furniture prices. At the same time, it appears that the government is doing something.

You apparently missed this paragraph:

Still, the thousands of companies not singled out will pay the 198 percent, and they "are going to be put out of business."
Now, you tell me what this is going to do to the price of furniture in the U.S.A.

Protectionism is always a bad deal for the consumer, and often a bad deal for the industry that's "protected," as it doesn't have to compete nearly as hard while the tariffs are in place. Then, when they're removed -- when the politicians finally come to their senses -- they have to play catch-up.

That is, if they are still in business.

40 posted on 06/19/2004 11:19:51 PM PDT by logician2u
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