Trade war? US battle over kitchen cabinets a domestic dispute

Robert Hunter, CNC's chief operating officer, (pic) said no domestic companies will make the disassembled product for him to replace the Chinese supplies - at least not at a competitive price. So he shifted sourcing to Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia and is hunting for a low-cost option in Eastern Europe to have many options for sourcing at a time of spreading trade battles.

THE anti-China trade mood has reached U.S. kitchens, where a battle is being waged over competing visions of where and how cabinets should be made. Some have shifted sourcing of disassembled parts away from China to Malaysia and Vietnam.

On one side are America's traditional cabinet companies, employing an estimated 100,000 people in factories across the country, often in small towns close to forests supplying the wood.

On the other is a new breed of "ready-to-assemble" firms that grabbed a hefty slice of the business over the last five years by importing disassembled cabinets from China in flat boxes and selling them at unbeatable prices.