HIGH POINT – A coalition of furniture companies has submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Commerce in response to the department’s Section 232 investigation to determine the effects on national security of timber and lumber imports.
The “Furniture for America” group, spearheaded by American Home Furnishings Alliance, says that Section 232 duties on timber, lumber and derivative products (including home furnishings), “would harm the domestic furniture industry and the American public.”
The group is made up of both domestic manufacturers and importers, AHFA says, many of which are AHFA members. The identity of the companies isn’t known, according to the AHFA, nor is the number of them, as companies submitted their comments confidentially through the law firm Mowry & Grimson. The AHFA also says it does not know the exact split between domestic manufacturers and importers but that the companies collectively have “a presence in all 50 states and more than 10,000 direct U.S. employees.”
In a 21-page document, the coalition says there is “no rational relationship between imports of wood products or furniture and the national security of the U.S.,” a criterion it says must be met to impose Section 232 duties.
“Section 232 empowers the President to take action only against demonstrable national security risks,” the document reads. “Because there is no nexus between imports of wood products and U.S. national security, presidential action under Section 232 on these products would be unlawful.”
Besides national security, the coalition outlines other reasons it is against the tariffs, namely that “tariffs won’t bring American furniture manufacturing back to prior levels,” that they would cause “severe economic harm” to many small domestic furniture businesses and that they would hurt the stalled housing market further by driving up prices.
Finally, the coalition says that if Commerce does decide that tariffs are warranted, it urges a transparent exclusion process “where businesses can make their individual factual cases known to decision makers.”
Later in the document, the coalition stresses the issue of labor, saying that if tariffs were to be added on wood products, “the U.S. furniture industry would be forced to shrink its workforce once again.”
“Tariffs cannot reopen factories that no longer exist, bring back thousands of workers who retired or moved on to other industries, nor reverse the interests and inclinations of today’s younger workers, who are attracted to higher-paying trades and the burgeoning tech industry,” it reads.
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