Jerry Samet has lived in High Point, a small town in North Carolina that has styled itself as the heart of the global furniture industry, for most of his life. But in recent years the furniture industry veteran has watched the once vibrant sector of his hometown decline. Over decades of global trade liberalisation measures, the US furniture industry turned to countries such as China, Mexico and Vietnam for parts and finished pieces. “Foreign exporters did not meaningfully reduce their prices in response to US tariff increases,” a report released Monday by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said. After a 50 per cent duty took effect, Brazil’s exporters “did not substantially reduce their dollar prices”, it found.
