Trade dynamics and policies are intricate and complicated as our world becomes more interconnected.
The current trade dispute between the United States and China is a testament to this and has had a negative impact on businesses everywhere. The wholly owned women’s small business, Bennett and Company, is unfortunately one of them. The American-owned business is classified as a minority and has been struggling for the past few years under the circumstances of the 301 Tariffs.
The owner, president and head designer of the company, Jacalyn Bennett, founded her lingerie business over 30 years ago. Her focus has been to provide jobs to young women. The headquarters is in Newburyport, where it is housed in a centuries-old structure originally built to promote global trade.
Bennett is among one of the first American women to open a factory in China after privatization in the 1990s. Today, she continues to provide safe jobs to young designers and creates an environment where young women are protected in the fashion industry.
However, Bennett and Company is one of the thousands of companies struggling due to the 301 Tariffs that were put in place back in 2017. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the trade dispute has elevated a possible global recession.
So, what exactly is going on and how are the following trade barriers affecting us?
The issue started with the Trade Act of 1974 against China that was put into place in August 2017 by the Trump administration. It was claimed and identified that China had been conducting illicit practices, so instead of commonly negotiating trade disputes through the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United States launched a Section 301 tariff investigation and threatened to impose a tariff on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods.
In retaliation, China increased tariffs on $110 billion worth of U.S. goods. It has been an ongoing exchange of retaliatory actions and marked the beginning of the trade conflict between the U.S. and China.
The U.S.-China relations in the Biden era bring forth our current dilemma as the policies imposed during the Trump era are still in place with no timeline for a resolution.
American import duties are now up to $360 billion worth of Chinese goods, and we have little clarity about the future and our economic engagement with the world’s second-largest economy.
As a prime example of the detriment, Bennett and Company has lost close to $3 million due to the China 301 Tariffs on the lingerie products that we import – none of which can be produced anywhere else.
Jacalyn Bennett has put forth all efforts into setting up sewing factories in other countries, including England, Ireland, Haiti, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, but nothing has worked since the product cannot be produced in those countries.
The focus has been on building her factory in China, where the quality of work is highly evolved, and her love for philosophy and devotion for bringing cultures together is unmatched.
It took more than 20 years to build her China lingerie manufacturing factory to the highest quality level. The type of product and level of complexity manufactured at the women’s wholly owned China factory cannot be replicated in another country, as again they have tried many times. Bennett and Company is heavily and personally invested in China and the garments can’t be sourced anywhere else.
Here in the United States, Bennett and Company provides more than 40 jobs, as well as hosting continuous internships through state and community schools. Bennett provides scholarships to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, Rhode Island School of Design and Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill.
Along with that, Bennett and her team support and give back to our local communities. She supports more than 60 local charities, which include a wellness center created in the Newburyport public school system and Anna Jaques Hospital. The support is only possible through the success of her company.
As uncertainty remains, Bennett and Company urges all fashion management, colleagues, friends and community members to educate themselves and spread awareness of the potential fall of our industry and how the citizens of America cannot produce such products.
In 2021, women do not want to sit at sewing machines as they did 100 years ago. The intricately detailed lingerie products that we manufacture in the highly skilled John Stuart Bennett China factory, along with the 40 jobs we provide to young designers and local employees, will no longer be available if the 301 Tariff remains.
Brynn Beaudoin is assistant to the president of Bennett and Company in Newburyport.
