Tariffs On Raw Materials To Shutter Ikea’s Only US Plant

CNN reports:

Ikea is shutting down its only furniture factory in the United States. The Swedish company will end production this December at its plant in Danville, Virginia. Operations will move to Europe, where the company says it can cut costs.

“We made every effort to improve and maintain the competitiveness of this plant, but unfortunately the right cost conditions are not in place to continue production in Danville,” site manager Bert Eades said in a statement.

Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, tweeted in 2018 that workers at the Danville plant were worried about how tariffs would affect costs. Kaine said the plant imports many raw materials. Since Kaine visited the plant, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on imports of particle board, a common Ikea material, from China.

IKEA didn't outright say Trump's tariffs are the reason they are closing their only US manufacturing plant, but they did say this:

"Ikea pointed to raw material prices, which it said are higher in the United States than Europe."

In other words: tariffshttps://t.co/tBfXYo8ls0

— Jennifer Hayden (@Scout_Finch) July 16, 2019