Do Anti-Dumping Tariffs on Furniture from China Create U.S. Jobs? Only for Washington Lawyers

From the Washington Post article "From China, An End Run Around U.S. Tariffs"

"To avoid a 2005 U.S. tariff on Chinese-made wooden bedroom furniture, Chinese furniture companies moved operations to other Asian countries, thwarting U.S. efforts to curb “dumping,” the export of goods at unfairly low prices (see chart above).

The result: Imports now account for about 70 percent of the U.S. market for beds and similar items, up from 58 percent before Washington intervened to try and protect domestic manufacturers from Chinese “dumping,” or the export of goods at unfairly low prices.

The only Americans getting more work as a result of the tariffs are Washington lawyers, who have been hired by both U.S. and Chinese companies. Their work includes haggling each year over private “settlement” payments that Chinese manufacturers denounce as a 'protection racket.'"

Cato's Dan Ikenson responds thoughtfully here on the Forbes blog.

Update: The chart below shows the significant decline in the CPI for Furniture and Bedding over the last ten years, which is now at about the same level as in the early 1990s.  Thanks largely to competitively priced imports, Americans today have the most affordable furniture in U.S. history.