"even with a tariff of 20 or even 40 per cent, goods made in China or south-east Asia are still cheaper" [20 or even 40 per cent]
"The main takeaway from the past 12 months is just how remarkably adaptable and flexible the global trading system now is" [remarkably adaptable and flexible]
The article documents a structural mismatch: tariffs were designed to make US manufacturing competitive again, but they cannot overcome decades of accumulated cost advantages in Asia (labor, supply chain density, scale). Instead of reshoring, production reroutes to lower-tariff Asian countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, India), and US consumers absorb price increases. This pattern generalizes beyond furniture to mobile phones and other sectors, revealing that tariffs alone cannot reverse globalized supply chains without addressing underlying cost structures.
The article provides multiple concrete examples: mobile phone imports shifted from 50% China to 25% China with Vietnam/India/Thailand filling the gap; furniture exports rerouted through Vietnam after tariffs; Chinese furniture makers pivoted to India and Gulf markets. This pattern indicates that modern supply chains have built-in redundancy and alternative sourcing pathways that allow them to absorb tariff shocks by shifting geography rather than reshoring. The system's resilience suggests tariffs function as a tax on consumers and a cost on US firms rather than a mechanism to restructure production location.