Wood furniture items exempted from Chinese tariffs
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WASHINGTON - President Trump's Administration has excluded two categories of furniture from Chinese tariffs.
 
Those items are wooden-frame, upholstered dining chairs other than those made of teak (9401.61.4011) and entry tables of wood other than bent-wood each measuring up to 185 centimeters in length (9403.60.8081). Parts of chairs of unfinished plywood, including bodies, legs and arms (9401.90.4080) have also received an exemption.
 
All of these goods were originally subject to the September 2018 10 percent tariffs. They then saw an increase to 25 percent early 2019. Forty-four other products - including lamps and woven fabrics - also were recently excluded.
 

As of early November, more than 2,500 American companies had filed requests to be excluded from tariffs on Chinese imports. Companies hoping to get an exclusion must explain to the U.S. Trade Representative's office why they think they deserve one. There's also a spot for comments from the public and organizations, who can choose to support or oppose the application.

The majority of companies write that they have been unable to find replacement goods – it either being impossible or doing so would hurt their businesses financially. Others write that they've fully transitioned to China and they're in too deep to suddenly move manufacturing back to the U.S.

As of October, the U.S. Trade Representative had ruled on 439 requests - approving 61 and rejecting 378.  Among requests on earlier rounds of tariffs, the USTR denied 61 percent of the more than 13,000 requests.
 
The deadline for exclusion is January 31, 2020. To submit, fill out an application here.

 

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About the author
Robert Dalheim

Robert Dalheim is an editor at the Woodworking Network. Along with publishing online news articles, he writes feature stories for the FDMC print publication. He can be reached at [email protected].