LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO - When President Donald Trump decided to raise tariffs on Chinese imports earlier this month, Francis O’Brien was left with no choice but to add a 4% fee on every item of furniture he sells.
Like O’Brien, some are hiking prices. Others said they are canceling or pausing orders. Still others are imposing tough new contract terms, rerouting sourcing and discussing ways to share costs with each other. But such offsets are often limited to the big factories and purchasers, and many in the $114 billion U.S. retail furniture industry are scrambling to cope with a sharp rise in costs from their biggest supplier.
Children's furniture is seen displayed in a showroom at New York-based Delta Children, the biggest U.S. supplier of baby furniture from China and other countries to major retailers like Walmart, William-Sonoma Inc's Pottery Barn and Wayfair Inc. in New York, U.S., May 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mike SegarManwah, for instance, is more than doubling the size of its factory in Vietnam, which now ships 1,000 containers per month.
Others raised similar concerns about pricing and demand. A typical furniture seller would have to raise the retail price of a table that wholesales for $400 to about $999 from $799 to cover the 25% tariff costs, said Stephen Antisdel, founder of Precept Partners, an e-commerce consultancy.
LisaBaertlein TV Just don't manufacture stuff in China. Make your product in the USA.
LisaBaertlein TV Furniture vendors in Italy & Poland should benefit from consequences of trade war
LisaBaertlein TV
TV Once again I ask, what are the measurable goals that the Trump administration hopes to achieve? Is the administration looking for five percent net increase in US manufacturing jobs? What good is a policy without a way to check if it worked?
TV let the dollar guide you. a lot of information there.
TV I wonder if the retailers were this vocal when most US furniture companies shut down their US operations and moved their manufacturing to China. Most Chinese furniture is junk anyway.
TV Sourcing from somewhere else is possible but the cost would be higher anyway. So the margin of retailers will be thinner or simply passing the cost to buyers
TV Shocking.. !!
TV We should at least be able to make furniture here Stateside!! I've nothing against imports, but we have so many skilled craftspeople here that could make wonderful sofas, tables, chairs, etc., but not charge excessively for consumers to buy them.
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