High stakes

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Chinese-made consumer goods worth more than $1.7 billionwould be effectively excluded from the United States if American manufacturers win three major trade cases now before U.S. tribunals.

The high stakes are pitting retailers against producers, but also dividing industries and retailers, and adding tension to international trade relations.

The cases against wooden bedroom furniture, color TVs and farm-raised shrimp are a major concern for U.S. importers and the Chinese government, both big winners from international trade. The cases are a last hope for a small number of American manufacturers and producers that employ thousands of workers.

"If nothing is done to stem the tide of illegal imports, our company will be out of business by the end of the year," Tom Hopson, president and chief executive of Five Rivers Electronic Innovations, a color TV manufacturer based in Greeneville, Tenn., said at a hearing of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) this month.

China and some U.S. importers argue that rulings favoring manufacturers would not bring any jobs back to the United States, as other countries with low-cost labor, unaffected by duties, replace China. Instead, they see a short-term trade disruption caused by unwarranted protectionism and an unfair system.

So the U.S. importers -- retailers and wholesalers -- are trying to fight back.

Wal-Mart and Best Buy, two of the biggest color TV retailers, testified against Five Rivers and allied labor unions at the ITC hearing.

American restaurants, grocers, seafood distributors and processors have banded together to make a case that shrimp imports help support 250,000 jobs in the United States.

And the Furniture Retailers of America last week at the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C., promised a bare-knuckles fight to defeat the anti-import petition.

"The furniture case is the biggest ever against China. And, for the first time, this is really starting to hit consumer goods," said Erik Autor, vice president and international trade counsel at the National Retail Federation, a group that represents department, discount and other stores.