Stratton Yatron: Biden, congressional leaders must unite to fight for Pa. jobs

As we enter the final weeks of a Senate race that may determine which party controls the U.S. Senate, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz continue to argue over who will be the best fighter for hardworking Pennsylvania families. The upcoming debate between the two Senate candidates must focus on policy and not politics, and both candidates need to tell us how they will fight to stop more Pennsylvania jobs being shipped overseas to China.

The domestic cabinet industry supports more than 250,000 American workers, the vast majority in Pennsylvania. Adelphi Kitchens was founded 76 years ago and has grown into a booming enterprise with nearly 250 dealers across the U.S., but our company — and the entire domestic cabinet industry — was on the brink of collapse just a few short years ago. At the time, Communist China was dumping cabinet products into the U.S., and they had taken over 40% of the domestic cabinet market. China’s nefarious trade practices resulted in countless plant closures and led others to the brink of collapse.

Leaders in the domestic cabinet industry filed antidumping and countervailing duty petitions with the U.S. Department of Commerce. In April 2020, the International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce ruled in the domestic industry’s favor, finding that Chinese imports had caused material injury, and subsequent antidumping duties up to 262% were issued to hold China accountable.

With the cabinet-making industry is no longer held hostage to unjust Chinese trade practices, domestic job growth and production has been able to flourish. Today, American cabinet manufacturing has developed into a $12 billion industry. Unfortunately, a recent preliminary determination by the U.S. Department of Commerce may allow China to reenter the market by the back door and kill Pennsylvania jobs.

The antidumping and countervailing duties are creating thousands of new jobs in Pennsylvania and around the country. The tariffs have allowed our company to flourish, providing good-paying jobs to our employees, stimulating our local economy, and allowing us to give back to the communities in which we operate.

None of this investment and job growth would be possible without China being held in check. Why, then, would the U.S. Department of Commerce and President Biden upend an iconic industry with record job growth and investment in the Keystone State and so many others?

The U.S. Department of Commerce is conducting its first annual review of the duties and has already assigned zero dumping margins to 16 Chinese exporters in a policy move that would treat China more favorably than almost every other country in the world. Such a policy would decimate Pennsylvania companies that are often the foundation for the community’s they call home. Pennsylvania and American families deserve more from the people they elected to serve their best interests.

While many would like to make this a political issue, it simply isn’t. The majority of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation penned a message to the U.S. Department of Commerce calling for these duties. An even larger bipartisan group of 25 U.S. senators, and more than 100 House members, joined together to do the same for their own states and our nation as a whole. Both Democrats and Republicans have and should continue to support policies that protect American jobs, rebuild our middle class, and invest in underserved communities.

Biden and our leaders in Washington need to stand up for American manufacturing workers and protect us from countries that cheat. Most importantly, our Senate candidates, Oz and Fetterman, need to start telling Pennsylvania families what they will do to protect millions of American manufacturing jobs and stop jobs being shipped overseas. Now is the time for our political leaders to stop China from cheating.

Stratton Yatron is the president and chief financial officer at Adelphi Kitchens.