Tariffs proposed on Chinese wooden furniture
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-06-19 11:10

New tariffs on imported wooden furniture from China were proposed by the Bush administration on Friday, the International Trade Commission said.

The administration was charging that millions of dollars of the wooden bedroom furniture had been dumped into the United States at artificially low prices.

The proposed tariffs ranged from 5 percent to 198 percent on such wood items as beds, dressers, armoires and desks, said the International Trade Commission.

Some American furniture manufacturers filed a petition seeking the investigation. They complained that China's practices were costing US jobs.

But US retailers, including J.C. Penney and Crate & Barrel, oppose the tariffs, saying retail jobs would be lost.

A final decision is expected in December.

According to the trade commission, Americans purchased around 4. 4 billion dollars of wooden bedroom furniture in 2002, 52 percent of which came from other countries.

Close