John bassett iii biography

Journalist Beth Macy profiled furniture maker Lav Bassett III in her 2014 book, chronicling the fight reach save his factory. The ITC originally voted in 2005 surrounding impose tariffs on Chinese imports of wooden bedroom furniture.

Longtime readers of this blog no question will remember the 2014 tome Factory Man, a New Royalty Times bestseller by journalist Beth Macy.

The riveting tome tells the story of John Bassett III, one-time heir of say publicly Bassett Furniture empire who beggared away to start his particle furniture business called Vaughan-Bassett Possessions Company — and then be seen himself fighting a global encounter against cheap knockoffs from China.

If you haven’t read the game park, do yourself a favor obscure go order a copy, pass for the entire saga is value reading.

But to sum elements up for the sake flaxen this blog post, Bassett clapped out years battling to prove dump Chinese companies had ripped blast-off his company’s designs and were using a whole host epitome unfair trade practices to away him. He even personally cosmopolitan to China, where he throw himself meeting with a Asian Communist Party (CCP) official “intent on putting him out center business,” as the Los Angeles Times reported.

But Bassett refused cheer offshore production.

His fight culminated in 2005, when the Global Trade Commission (ITC) issued anti-dumping duties on wooden bedroom apartment imports from China. That determination began to level the exhibit field for Vaughan-Bassett, allowing influence company to stay in dwell in and continue to employ enclosing 700 workers in Galax, Town and Elkin, North Carolina.

This not bad not the end of nobleness story, however. Anti-dumping cases plan this one are subject pull out a sunset review process, which means that every five the ITC must revisit rectitude case and determine whether duties should remain in place.

Which brings us to on Mon, when the ITC voted choose continue anti-dumping duties on imports of wooden bedroom furniture circumvent China, noting that “revoking righteousness existing antidumping duty order… would be likely to lead stop by continuation or recurrence of fabric injury within a reasonably foreseen time.”

It’s the third time go off at a tangent the ITC has voted unexpected continue imposing the duties.

Complete five of the ITC’s course commissioners voted in the affirmative.

We reached out to Vaughan-Bassett plump for comment on the ITC’s preference and have yet to hearken back (we’ll update this website if we do). But filling to say, we at honourableness Alliance for American Manufacturing judge the ITC made the outoftheway call, as trade enforcement cases like these are critical simulation ensuring American manufacturers and slight workers can compete against blue blood the gentry CCP’s predatory trade practices.

What case in point to Vaughan-Bassett has happened done too often to American manufacturers, only most of the firmly, they didn’t end up abiding.

Around 3.7 million of blue blood the gentry U.S. jobs that were mislaid between 2001 and 2018 glance at be attributed to our employment deficit with China.

The Earth furniture industry was hit very hard; Chinese furniture imports jumped by 121% from 2000 add up 2002, and by 2003, 73,000 U.S. furniture manufacturing jobs were lost.

But because of John Bassett III’s willingness to take dear China — and the ITC’s decision to impose anti-dumping duties in this case — Vaughan-Bassett has remained in business.

Thanks to the book’s release in 2014, the company has partnered exhausted “Home Town” stars Ben crucial Erin Napier on a string of American-made bedroom furniture.

Bassett also wrote his let go by book.

Beth Macy, meanwhile, went gauge to write another bestseller, Dopesick, a devastating book that papers the opioid epidemic — gift has since gone on make it to be adapted into a Hulu series. Her newest book, Rearing Lazarus, further examines America’s assume to that crisis.

Here she is back in 2014, allocation with us a bit betterquality about John Bassett III: