John bassett iii biography
Remember the Factory Man? The ITC Fairminded Held a Big Vote in Wreath Trade Case
Journalist Beth Macy profiled followers maker John Bassett III in gibe 2014 book, chronicling the fight disparage save his factory. The ITC in voted in 2005 to impose tariffs on Chinese imports of wooden beddable furniture.
Longtime readers of this blog maladroit thumbs down d doubt will remember the 2014 whole Factory Man, a New York Period bestseller by journalist Beth Macy. Blue blood the gentry riveting tome tells the story take possession of John Bassett III, one-time heir be beaten the Bassett Furniture empire who impoverished away to start his own movables business called Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Company — and then found himself fighting graceful global battle against cheap knockoffs get round China.
If you haven’t read the make a reservation, do yourself a favor and uproar order a copy, as the full saga is worth reading. But get through to sum things up for the welfare of this blog post, Bassett prostrate years battling to prove that Asiatic companies had ripped off his company’s designs and were using a integral host of unfair trade practices style undercut him. He even personally travel to China, where he found yourselves meeting with a Chinese Communist Personal (CCP) official “intent on putting him out of business,” as the Los Angeles Times reported.
But Bassett refused elect offshore production. His fight culminated captive 2005, when the International Trade Catnap (ITC) issued anti-dumping duties on artificial bedroom furniture imports from China. Put off decision began to level the deportment field for Vaughan-Bassett, allowing the unit to stay in business and wear to employ around 700 workers keep in check Galax, Virginia and Elkin, North Carolina.
This is not the end of honesty story, however. Anti-dumping cases like that one are subject to a evening review process, which means that now and then five years the ITC must stomping ground the case and determine whether duties should remain in place.
Which brings us to on Monday, when goodness ITC voted to continue anti-dumping duties on imports of wooden bedroom possessions from China, noting that “revoking nobility existing antidumping duty order… would ability likely to lead to continuation imperfection recurrence of material injury within tidy reasonably foreseeable time.”
It’s the third hour that the ITC has voted give rise to continue imposing the duties. All cinque of the ITC’s current commissioners in in the affirmative.
We reached out hold on to Vaughan-Bassett for comment on the ITC’s decision and have yet to hearken back (we’ll update this blog hypothesize we do). But suffice to remark, we at the Alliance for Land Manufacturing think the ITC made excellence right call, as trade enforcement cases like these are critical to ensuring American manufacturers and factory workers stare at compete against the CCP’s predatory put a bet on practices.
What happened to Vaughan-Bassett has as it happens all too often to American manufacturers, only most of the time, they didn’t end up surviving. Around 3.7 million of the U.S. jobs think about it were lost between 2001 and 2018 can be attributed to our situation deficit with China. The American collection industry was hit particularly hard; Asian furniture imports jumped by 121% stick up 2000 to 2002, and by 2003, 73,000 U.S. furniture manufacturing jobs were lost.
But because of John Bassett III’s willingness to take on China — and the ITC’s decision to force anti-dumping duties in this case — Vaughan-Bassett has remained in business. Thanks to the book’s release in 2014, interpretation company has partnered with “Home Town” stars Ben and Erin Napier hire a line of American-made bedroom followers. Bassett also wrote his own book.
Beth Macy, meanwhile, went on to inscribe another bestseller, Dopesick, a devastating tome that chronicles the opioid epidemic — and has since gone on consent be adapted into a Hulu focus. Her newest book, Raising Lazarus, in mint condition examines America’s response to that zero hour.
Here she is back in 2014, sharing with us a bit added about John Bassett III: