Filing seeking tariffs on Chinese fabrics was just a draft, says official

While the document has been withdrawn, Trumbull said his association still is looking at the upholstery fabrics issue.

"The upholstery fabric council is interested in pursuing a trade remedy if the facts line up to make it possible to do so," he said, adding that the association likely would file under Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974. "If we end up doing a filing, I am not sure how closely it will resemble this document."

"It is a complex process to do any type of trade filing," Trumbull said. "I can't say at this point that we will do one, but we are very seriously looking at what our options for a trade remedy are.... I am hopeful that given the work we have already put into this, and as we explore it further, that a case will come together that we can file. We won't know that until we put more work into it ourselves."

He said his association and a number of its members have been aware of the threat of Chinese upholstery fabric imports since China was accepted into the World Trade Organization in 2001.

"The sense has developed in the industry that we really need to do something," Trumbull said. "Although we are not ready to do it yet, we do believe we have the facts necessary for a case and if at the end of the day we determine we do, we will file."

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