The example of Canadian ready-to-assemble furniture supplier Prepac is a case study in what Robert Lighthizer was discussing with Tucker Carlson yesterday.
Prepac is a furniture company that creates the pre-fab (particle board) type furniture [company here]. The company was founded and established in Canada and previously opened a second facility for manufacturing and distribution in North Carolina.
The U.S. market is their primary sales market, and facing increased uncertainty about access, tariffs and operations their best play is to close shop in Canada and move all operations to the location of their primary customer base. Prepac is leaving Canada for North Carolina.
DELTA, British Columbia — Canadian ready-to-assemble furniture supplier Prepac has reportedly shut down its manufacturing operations in Delta, British Columbia, shifting all production to its facility in North Carolina instead.
According to Unifor, the union that represents Prepac’s workers, tariffs are to blame. More than 170 workers will be laid off.
“Our union has been warning about lost investment and production since Trump began his economic war on Canada and Canadian workers,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “In this case, Prepac and its equity owners are using the tariffs as an excuse to redirect all their production to the U.S. It’s pure greed.”
[…] Prepac was founded in Canada 45 years ago and locally owned until it was acquired by Canadian private equity firm TorQuest in 2019. The company invested $27 million to build its 260,000-square-foot facility in Whitsett, N.C., in 2021, a move that added 200 jobs.
[…] Prepac is the second known furniture manufacturer to lay off workers in Canada since the onset of the trade war. South Shore announced early February that it would lay off 115 workers in Quebec, saying the threat of tariffs has hurt its business too much. (source)
Again, this is a sign of what is to come if Canada remains in opposition to balanced trade and subjects their economy to a significant disconnect from the U.S. market. {Go Deep}
Oh, excellent news!
For particle board, that is!
A little snobbish? So are 90% of kitchen cabinets across the United States. These are better quality than the stock Lowes/HD products or builder grade kitchens.
Excuse the caps (shouting) but this needs to be screamed from the highest mountaintops:
OVER 300 CANADIANS ARE OUT OF A JOB TONIGHT ALL BECAUSE YOU’RE PROTECTING THE DRUG DEALERS WHO HAVE DONE NOTHING AT ALL AND WILL DO NOTHING AT ALL FOR YOU…EVER….
Just how high of a price are you willing to pay to protect them?
300 hundred here, 300 there, and pretty soon you are talking about massive job losses.
Elections have consequences…
“We’ll muzzle and debank anyone pointing out truths, now hush your mouth eh”
He he he
Well, laid-off government-subsidized workers will be prime customers for the Canadian drug cartels. Then once those victims are no longer useful the Can govt. will involuntarily euthanize them.
I appreciate the ALL caps because that is truly the situation. How entrenched is the CCP Controlled Chinese Cartels in the Canadian government. Are all of the politicians bribed and paid off?
I don’t blame Canadians who are enraged at their corrupt government that isn’t willing to simply cooperate with Trump’s request for them to do more to halt the drug and human trafficking on our northern border, in lieu of imposed tariffs. Yes this reeks of bribes and payoffs by the Cartels.
Here in the US it seems obvious the Democrat Party is also owned by the Cartels considering the howling they have done about Trump’s steps to curtail the Cartels. How much in league are the Mexican Cartels and the Chinese Cartels? It would seem they would be business partners given the common goods/people they traffic. Most of us probably don’t realize how close our entire continent is to becoming like the Mexican border towns where the Cartels completely rule the government.
Thank God we have DJT for POTUS who is in a position to fight back to protect US sovereignty and the safety of Americans. People who still support the Democrats after the screeching they have done to bring the violent, vicious MS13 and TdA terrorists who were deported back to the US are deranged, potentially dangerous people. Approach with caution if you are not able to avoid them altogether.
POTUS can’t do it without us, though. We have to support him and his team every way we can. Sitting on our a$$es and cheering him on is not a good look.
Justine is probably glad he resigned.
He’ll be joining Zellenski soon on one of their riviera chateaus somewhere. 😉
Have your Canadian pols remove the 250% tariffs on US dairy products. Better yet, just remove all your tariffs on American goods. Most people don’t realize how bad the US gets hosed by tariffs from the rest of the world, and has been since WW2 when we agreed to it to help countries recover from the war.
Re “Have your Canadian pols…”
Unfortunately, Canadian pols have a poor record of allowing their citizens to guide their actions. If anything, they’re even more tone deaf than American politicians.
That’s it in a nutshell…well said.
They been planning this move for years. Bought the facility in 2021? They did not MOVE because of the tariffs. So don’ try to make it an event. It been in the planning stages for a long time. .
I’m sure they weren’t planning on closing to shop in Canada in 2021.
Jobs in the USA. Who would’ve thought?
Brace yourself for that giant sucking sound you hosers.
Nice!
Hmmm…30+ years ago, we were warned by Ross Perot of that great sucking sound as jobs and corporations would leave the US.
Did the nations of the world not realize that, sooner or later, that the increasing vacuum pressure would reverse the flow direction?
I guess not.
No, and not one of them cried when it happened to us.
My wife and I both voted for Ross Perot. Not far down the line I stumped for Ron Paul during the Nevada Caucus in my county. Swayed quite a few by explaining the RINO problem. If I remember correctly, the RINO in question wS Mittens Romney.
I volunteered at the Ross Perot campaign office in Boston. I believe that threats to his family caused him to drop out. The Uniparty hated him as much as they did President Trump.
Fortunately President Trump has no backdown or backup. Fight. Fight. Fight.
And the truth Perot was telling us was so shocking, most of us who _might_ believe it, just couldn’t accept it back in 1992…
They hated Reagan just as much. The Party only accepts people from DC and its surrounds who are part of the CLUB already.
Yeah, the Good Ole Boys Club, rotten to the core…
In 2008 & 2012 I stood at our Precinct Caucus in rural Minnesota advocating for Ron Paul. He took the most votes both times. Then I advocated for Trump in 2016 and again he won even though Rubio won Minnesota in the famed VinWeber splinter strategy.
I’m not going to applaud foreign companies moving a facility to the U.S.
They’re still foreign owned.
I much rather would have American companies moving back to the U.S.
Given that labor is high, as soon as these new tariffs are whittled down or entirely stricken, those U.S. jobs will leave.
Offshoring started with Congress (in the 1990s) so Congress can and should set this right. Well, I hope they can. Of course they can, they need to saddle their ass.
So far I am happyn with both foreign companies moving here and American companies giving up their foreign factories and movig back here.
Right, they can KEEP their particle board crap. We have too much cheap furniture from Shyna as it is
Technically, there is no such thing as a vacuum, there is only high pressure and low pressure, subject to
and limited by observable extremes {science},
Like temperature is measured as hot and cold, the theoretical
coldest temp of absolute zero {-459°F} cannot be observed/recreated/duplicated. It’s simply a SWAG {theory}
All matter contains heat, corresponding to the measure of said matter’s molecular/electron composition/activity.
imho
In God We Trust
Trust God
Fear not
Forty five years ago, Volkswagen moved from Pa. to Mexico for cheaper labor. Found out that we build better cars here than down south! They returned to USA a couple years later! We coulda used a Trump type person back then!
A little trivia: The Westmoreland, PA plant was subsequently used by Sony in the production of televisions from 1990 to 2008, as the Sony Technology Center-Pittsburgh (STCP).
It actually produced CRT Picture tubes for their largest Tube sets. This was before the transition to LCD/LED sets.
I suspect the sucking sound phenominom is going to occur at an excellerated rate, over what we experienced when the rust belt was created.
PDJT is reversing the “exfiltration of wealth” that Sundance writes about, in his MAGAnomics 101 articles…
The combination of the Tariffs, the tax advantages, and the cheap, stable, reliable energy is going to have companies flooding into the U.S.
Germany, having gone green energy, has had plants closing down for some time, and how will they remain the economic powerhouse that has enabled them to dominate the EU, when they lose their industrial base?
Oh, I know,…they can become a SERVICE ECONOMY, LOL!.
Seriously, Meloni is charting a different coarse, and along with Orban is starting to form the cracks in the EU.
Its inevitable that the EU will break up,…and from the ashes a new Europe, a MEGA Europe will form..
Meloni is on the right course.
Eh, only if she actually stops the Muslim invasion into Italy.
I’m sure her last visit to Mar A Lago turned her MAGA. She saw our President and the power brokers at play and she was surely smitten.
Germans will just have to learn to code, Dutch. I’m sure the USAID will run with that idea…they can ask Barry to be the Honorary Chair of the “Just. Learn. Code.” initiative in Germany.
(P.S. To anyone new here at the Treehouse, and there are many, this is my best attempt at sarcasm. 😁)
It’s obvious, Arminius.
The new EU caliphate values service industries, or so I understand.
And knife skills.
That is why our ‘immigrants’ are in slaughterhouses/meat packing plants around the Country.
Baby making seems to be high on their to do list.
MAGAMOTORWORKS
My father worked for over 30 years at Bethlehem Steel. Many of the men in our neighborhood worked there or in other heavy industrial manufacturers in the area. NAFTA destroyed those jobs and many of the people in our community suffered greatly. I will never forget or forgive the National Review article by Kevin Williamson, “ White working class communities deserve to die.” I wonder if Kevin and National Review will say the same for what’s coming to Canada and others.
National Review deserves to die. In my opinion.
I thought it was dead already!
“The truth about these dysfunctional, downscale communities is that they deserve to die. Economically, they are negative assets. Morally, they are indefensible. Forget all your cheap theatrical Bruce Springsteen crap. Forget your sanctimony about struggling Rust Belt factory towns and your conspiracy theories about the wily Orientals stealing our jobs. Forget your goddamned gypsum, and, if he has a problem with that, forget Ed Burke, too. The white American underclass is in thrall to a vicious, selfish culture whose main products are misery and used heroin needles. Donald Trump’s speeches make them feel good. So does OxyContin. What they need isn’t analgesics, literal or political. They need real opportunity, which means that they need real change, which means that they need U-Haul.
If you want to live, get out of Garbutt.“
If you’re looking for stupid and wrong, Williamson’s column is a great primer. As historians write the obituary of Conservative Inc, this column is essential source material. And “they deserve to die” will be the epitaph.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/03/donald-trump-white-working-class-dysfunction-real-opportunity-needed-not-trump/
I try really hard not to hate these people.
I’ve long since given up trying…
That’s pretty funny !! LOL
LOVE the pic at the bottom of our Very Stable Genius!!!
-the conductor
Sad Saps delivering Snow Jobs inbound!
In all the Narrative Control Operations I’ve witnessed here the past dozen years, this issue has brought out highly manipulative professional emoters assigning over the top emotionalism to their very targets even as they are dripping in faux sorrow, the likes of which I’ve never seen before.
It’s all really sad.
(PS: Dekester is not in that club, he’s cool as hell!)
Dekester is one of the Cool Kids in Canada and here at the Treehouse, for sure, Maquis!
it woudl be great if we / someone kept a running list / total of these examples
lol. Expect to hear more outraged Canucks in here telling us what a monster Trump is again cuz of…mean tweets.
Tears in their Molson.😭
I won’t Labatt an eyelash.
As usual, it’s the little people who are going to hurt
And helped. in this particular case.
The little people who voted for Trudeau.
Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.
Only 30 -% voted for Trudeau
They have a horrible system
I’m still waiting for one of them to realize their leader wasn’t elected. Any day now…..any day….
You must not have watched the video that Sundance refers to in this column.
The ‘little people’ that you are not referring to are the 2/3 of the US workforce whose lives have been in turmoil for decades due to jobs moving out of our country and sweetheart deals made by our corrupted politicians. These people pay in the form of taxes $4,400 to each person in Canada every year.
Canada, like it or not cannot survive on its own.
Numbers don’t lie, but politicians certainly do.
Hence, Trump tweeting Canada can be absorbed into the US before the tariffs stop.
Canada can only exist when the relationship is decidedly one-way? Human relationships tell us differently – one-way relationships that are opportunely placed on an equal-footing…either dissolve, end acrimoniously, or revert back to a power-abuse structure neither side is willing to end.
We’ll see what happens as this progresses.
President Trump gave both Mexico and Canada the opportunity to begin mending fences when he renegotiated NAFTA to become the USMCA. Neither Canada nor Mexico availed themselves. Now, President Trump is leveling the playing field FOR them.
Can either country survive? A betting man might say no….
And Doug Ford will get so angry, he’ll shut one of his light switches off.
Doug Ford showed his true Communism self during the Canadian truckers strike. He is FILTH.
Probably would.
That is if he knew how to operate a light switch.
Remember the movie Wall Street??? Greed is Good!!!!! A company is run for the stockholders and not the employees. Jack Welch said so. If moving to NC is the smart business decision, then it must be done. No matter the reason why. The union spokesperson is an idiot clinging to employment ideas from the 1950’s.
Greed is not good, but self-interest is not the same as selfish.
And how few there are who know that difference.
Who would buy this crap no difference from the china crap
Final scene in “Executive Suite” (1954 film)
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=executive+suite+film+scene+youtube&t=iphone&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DvcEOsGvT0qA
9 minutes
I watched this movie last week for the first time. Was blown away with the acting and the relevancy of the story.
I’m a huge old movie fan and am trying to watch everything I can from the late ’30’s to the early ’60’s. Love film noir.
Yes it’s quite a
story-line…; each character’s story
and overall theme
-so relevant to today.
————-
Another William Holden poignant (comedy) film is
-Born Yesterday
1950
1h 43m
While in Washington to lobby for favorable legislation, a garbage tycoon hires a reporter to teach his ex-showgirl mistress proper etiquette to better fit in with high society, but she ends up learning more than he bargained for.
Judy Holliday !
Yes❣️❣️❣️❣️
-“WWWwwhaaaT!?!?!!”
😂
Good Movie!!
Can you see film like
THAT made today???
No explosions
No shootings
No car chases
No scantily clad women
No vulgarity
What a movie Can be.
Particle board is garbage, but at least they are making it here. Hardwoods are still obtainable, but the cost is very .high
Seems like particle board is OK until you ever disassemble it and try to reassemble it. Don’t get it wet or even moist. Do not show it pictures of water or let it watch “Hawaii 5 0”.
I have been known to put varnish or polyurethane on the edges to protect them from moisture infiltration. As well as add some small metal reinforcement brackets.
Indoor furniture is not suppose to get wet, but glasses of water do get spilled. In the northeast, there is a wide variation in indoor humidity levels during the year.
Or you have respiratory issues.
My thoughts
At least some of our citizens will be getting paid to make it, and while I agree that particle board furniture is crap, there is a market for it. It is all some people can afford.
Retired Magistrate here: That is why it is smart to go to yard sales, estate sales and some vintage shops to buy furniture. You can pick up some really excellent pieces of wood furniture, usually oak, walnut or rock maple. It might need to be cleaned up or refinished; however, the quality is good and the furniture was built to last.
We purchased most of our furniture this way. Things don’t match but that is OK. It gives our house a cozy look and we like it.
Marcia, you are so correct. Here in Carmel, CA, the best place to buy furniture is at the consignment stores or better yet, the Yellow Brick Road Benefit Shop where most the proceeds/profits go to fund the college scholarships of students serving as a witness of faith in Christ’s purpose.
You are correct as to the inventory that exists but it isn’t being desired for at least two reasons. Those that rent apartments have little room for it and when they move the “crap” is easy to dispose of. Those that have money turn their noses up at buying used. I predicted two decades ago that landfills would be the next home of estate sale furniture and it is happening now. First to go was tables and chairs. As bad is beautiful dish sets. The under 50 crowd want nothing to do with family get togethers. Unfortunately many are choosing to be childless as they prefer to be the only child in their lives.
I have been in the antique/collectible business for over twenty five years. .
Good quality furniture doesn’t interest the younger crowd and those of older generation like myself acquired our desired pieces in our younger years. We’re handling my bil estate who was a collector of fine furniture, antiques, dishes etc etc and so far the 3 auctions have shown pieces that he paid $$$ for have sold for $200 on average. So it’s not money preventing people from buying good furniture or other quality items when it’s selling for less than what’s offered in retail chains. It’s sad to see the younger generation not appreciate fine craftsmanship that outlasts any of this boxed, put together furniture. I think Joanna Gaines in part ignited the trend that is seen being emulated so much in today’s decor.
Agree. I have heard the same. The youngers do not want to collect they want memories from travel. They were brought up on keeping the environment clean and viable at the same time they want “throw away.” Why? Because most important of all they desire to be lazy. Oxymorons they were brought up to be. Sadly. Not all of them of course, I am not painting with a broad brush.
There are a lot of great YouTube videos where young people are restoring neglected, but well made furniture. Some people do love the older pieces and see the beauty in the craftsmanship that is missing today. There is also a minimalist movement that teaches less is more, so bulky, heavy and ornate furniture does not fit that modern trend. To each his/her own.
I live near a small university. When school let’s out in the Spring, they put all their furniture, microwaves, etc., on the curb. You can furnish a home there’s so much of it.
The destruction of the American chestnut tree removed a superior type of wood for furniture as well as a plentiful food source. I haven’t heard lately if there has been any success in bringing it back with a resistance to the blight that killed it.
I have salvaged chestnut out of old barns and houses. It was and is a wonderful wood and food source.
I read several years ago of some acreage in NC or TN which was attempting to resurrect chestnut. I hope it succeeds.
So, you can see chestnut forests?
Just checking.
😝
Yes, I went on a farm tour where the proprietors showed us hybrid chestnuts that they hope will be blight-resistant.
Here is a link:
https://tacf.org/science-strategies/tree-breeding/
Chinese college students at Columbia?
Unfortunately Canadians don’t understand simple economics. Self regulation is encouraged, low energy deployment, high taxes. All to “save” the planet while destroying your families ability to survive financially.
The new PM is doubling down, an election is incoming and the Left who’ve run this Country over the last 10 years are close to winning again. We might as well rip the bandaid off and let them complete their destructive plan. The sooner, the better for those standing by for a brighter day.
This comes from a Canadian cultural trait that discussing problems, whether economic, health or familial is so uncomfortable that they avoid it at all costs. This procrastination to not see the real problems glaring at them has been festering for a long time. Either they will finally rise up and take back control of their lives, or they will continue to live like nothing is wrong.
I sincerely hope they pray for a revival of their culture and return to a healthy nation. The first sin was allowing pot and other types of drugs to become legal across the country. Trudeau did that and seems everyone is stoned and/or drinking so they really are not aware of alot that is happening around them. This was done by design to usher in the destruction of the Canadian family, their health and society as a whole.
“Our union has been warning about lost investment and production since Trump began his economic war on Canada and Canadian workers,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “In this case, Prepac and its equity owners are using the tariffs as an excuse to redirect all their production to the U.S. It’s pure greed.”
What a disconnect. It’s either pure greed or trying to sell your stuff for 50% more than it’s worth.
This is so good. Bringing it back to NC!
In North Carolina will it employ Americans or illegal aliens?
NC ranks up there in the top 10 for illegals but hopefully not for long!
As they used to say on a certain game show, COME ON DOWN!
Hey Oh Canada, PDJT says “FA FO” Just the beginning of the EXODUS of Canadian businesses to the good old USA
I hate that particle board crap.
Canada’s National Motto: Some Assembly Required.
Lordy, Lordy…fantástico!
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
2h
President Trump
Positions U.S.
as Global Superpower in Manufacturing
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/03/president-trump-positions-u-s-as-global-superpower-in-manufacturing/
Serious question for Treepers…has anyone heard the Administration talk about or mention white collar jobs? All I am hearing is manufacturing jobs —which of course is critical to bring back to the US—but I haven’t heard anything about the white collar job market at all. Please tell me I am missing something. As someone whose industry is quickly being “offshored” and a Software engineer husband losing jobs to H1B Visas, this is something I long to hear from this Administration…I believe the true unemployment numbers are very very bad…
https://www.robertwalters.us/insights/news/blog/usa-posts-4-percent-increase-in-professional-jobs-in-february-as-trumps-policies-begin-to-take-effect.html
Michael B. thank you…this is very helpful…I just wish I would hear more from this administration…they are very bullish on the mfg area and I keep hoping they just haven’t gotten to it yet…but the white collar world is hurting…
Whether we want it or not AI will soon take over most white collar jobs. The Hebe visas will soon have to deport. Our nation has been sucking big time for tradesmen. Hopefully eventually people will relearn how to fix things themselves-until then we still need trade services and products that can be fixed..
The AI stuff I am not convinced is the end all/be all they believe…I think it is their way to cut labor force initially and replace with cheaper labor…there are certain things that cannot be taken over by AI. The same is that a lot of the AI stuff is going to be done and jobs taken by entry level/recent grad types…like in the Accounting industry…they are offshoring and using AI for the bulk of the compliance work…so now these kids out of school are being robbed of entry level jobs and the way to learn their craft…it is crippling and a shame…
I use Grok excellent tool. You still need to provide all the info before submitting to Grok. Human still does all the work and inputs.
They have to figure out some way to stop the offshoring problem. Not only does it cost American workers jobs in our country, but it gives those jobs to under qualified and unconcerned Indian engineers. At least in the case of oil and gas, you’re talking about projects that are literally life and death. Just wait until a liquid CO2 pipeline unzips over a distance of a couple of miles because the Mumbai office didn’t know what they were doing
Boeing’s 737 Max debacle, two crashes, hundreds of lives lost, fleet grounded for a year, is entirely attributable to Indian outsourced coding which was, quite poor.
Of course, it didn’t help that Boeing was cheap on the training materials and programs, and was stupid enough in the first place to put oversized engines on it that could not fit under the wing as the landing gear could not be made taller so they shoved the engines forward, messed up the ideal aerodynamic and center of gravity aspects of the design, and pretended they could make it all up with fancy dancy software farmed out to a place on the globe that does not view or value human life the way we do.
All around bad showing, but hey, at least they have their space program going for them.
🙃
All of that razzamajazz was accomplished to satisfy Euroweenies who wanted slightly more efficient engines cuz climate change . . .
One of the reason’s I will not travel is due to this…that and the TSA and facial recognition BS….
All around bad showing, but hey, at least
they havetheir Board of Directors has their stock optionsspace programgoing for them.Well, the space program bit was a joke, SpaceX just rescued the folk that were supposed to be up for a week and spent dang near a year up there, Boeing’s space program is a sad joke.
I have been doing deep dives into the h1B software engineers and the scamming that has taken place…my prayer is that this administration is wise to what has been happening to US workers and how we literally are being replaced at an increasingly rapid pace….the off/on/reshoring stuff NEEDS to be stopped…the pace is picking up with companies knowing that this administration will be (most likely) at the very least enforcing the Visa caps…there is documented proof that the Biden admin has gone (at minimum) over 20k over the Visa cap last year….they know this admin won’t put up with it so now they are off/on/reshoring stuf…
White collar jobs will follow. Having done both in my life, it amazes me that trades are so looked down upon. Who do you think delivers your goods, keeps your water, plumbing or AC running, picks up your garbage or paves your roads?
Who said anyone is “looking down” on trades? I am thrilled that trades and mfg are being prioritized by the administration. I was simply asking about the plan for white collar
People should be flexible with all this economic change, so “white collar” may or may not be applicable the way we have known it to be. Some jobs may be hybrid IT/AI/human and specific skill sets can be augmented in ways, such as certifications. Leaving a particular sector all together is not out of the question, but I believe certain jobs will always be needed. Accountants, nurses, first responders, telecom workers and food service personnel to name a few. Let’s see what happens and good luck.
I would think that as more manufacturing companies surge, then accounting, management and IT jobs will be growing too. They will need all facets of workers to produce, sell, manage and deliver goods around the world. The sky’s the limit as to what jobs will be necessary to crank up the USA economic engine again.
Treepers, we need to support such companies with our wallets. Remember this one’s name next time you need casual furniture.
Their cabinetry would be good in laundry rooms, kids rooms and even classrooms where high quality is not a first need.
Leave aside the aesthetic aspects and their furniture kits will fill a niche market somewhere.
This is great first start.
The first piece of furniture I bought for my first apartment was one of those particle board put together yourself pieces of furniture. I know pride is a sin but I felt so proud of myself sitting on the floor of my little living room in my own little apartment putting that chest of drawers together.
Pride is a sin when you think you are better than others. Satisfaction for a job-well done or the enjoyment for learning a new skill is not pride – though the verb “proud” gets used for both.
It’s a great thought – young people enjoying new skills they learned on their own!
Our first was “bricks and boards”. The boards may even have been particle board.
Winning!!!! Let’s Gooooo!!!!!
That’s what I’m talking aboot. FAFO
Haha! “aboot”
So then does this mean the Canadians will now pay a tariff on IMPORTED furniture from Prepac in NC?
If so, I would think many common sense Canadians can see who is truly going to get the shaft in the end when mass migration of Canadian companies move to the US.
Can you say boomerang?
I was unaware this was a dorm room furniture company. I guess the old timey woodworking geniuses of North Carolina have all but disappeared.
Yep. Many closed ship or moved to China. You can still buy furniture from North Carolina but the pickings are slim and the price is significant. Plus, there are other locations that make wood furniture in addition to NC. Indiana and California (surprisingly). We bought from a place in Indiana.
Central Illinois as well as Indiana, have Amish furniture stores…I have a few pieces…solid oak, quality in the detail.
I was hoping to see a resurgence of Thomasville…
Me too. Perhaps given time.
You have to go online and buy from the Amish. There are many suppliers where you can choose quartersawn white oak, cherry, etc. The price is high but not if you consider lifetime ownership. There are many on Etsy who make custom pieces too.
High Point NC still has an international furniture market twice a year. It is astounding the quality and amount of furniture that is showcased there. Some is still made in NC.
It’s funny how simple minded Canadians can be. As if they can redefine fair trade as economic warfare. Their political class thinks there so, so special.
It would be interesting and ironic if tariffs were the cause of North Carolina’s high end furniture makers which moved to Asia were to move back to Carolina.
_____________
Particle board ‘furniture’. Ewww yuck.
In NC.
Double yuck.
When I was in college, I bought an old couch that had more wood than it did cushion. I’d have been very happy with particleboard furniture.
The Amish of Indiana & Ohio have never stopped making real wood furniture and have expanded access to it with a website.
https://onlineamishfurniture.com/
I also remember when dad was furnishing the last house he built (in Indiana circa 1998), all or most of the furniture came from a little furniture store (real wood probably locally grown/built) in Gainesboro TN, which is just south of the cemetery his father (my grandfather) is buried.
Looks like it was where a Dollar General store is now.
This round corner computer desk I currently have my stuff on I bought in about 1995 from as I recall Sauder, has a 1 inch thick (partical) desktop that has survived all those 100% Indiana humidity’s and is still flat, heck one of the few things I took to CO when I moved, they don’t make it anymore tho they have similar un-rounded versions of it w/o a upper tier for monitor.
Yeah kind of ironic having that style of prefab furniture transplant to Hickory area. Maybe that’s a sign of other companies returning to the great state of NC. Some of the best furniture in the world came from NC and I still have some of those pieces.
maybe those laid of workers can get jobs shoveling the sh-t the canadian govt pushes…
The liberals will do the Tesla thing to this company when they find out.
Some snowbird Canadians are going back to Canada early before the end of the month because we have a dictator…. buh bye!
nice
Sundance This is an explainer of why they want Carnage in power – key is Libs want to destroy the Canadian economy.
https://x.com/JasonLavigneAB/status/1902484829465407588
Read the embedded letter as well
But…is there no Canadian judge that can make Prepac stay in Canada and hire all the workers back, like we are seeing in the US??? (Lol)
HA!!!
If not, We have a bunch of low-life corrupt judges in the US that we can send up north to you.
And, we will be glad to get rid of them.
The Canadians have learned little regarding PDJT’s historic consistency for effectively using the tools (negotiations, tariffs, sanctions, etc.) in his economic and political tool kits to succeed in making America first. Their acceptance of fair trade requirements may be very painful for them.
Canadians getting laid off? And Americans getting the jobs here? WIN-WIN
”Prepac was founded in Canada 45 years ago and locally owned until it was acquired by Canadian private equity firm TorQuest in 2019. The company invested $27 million to build its 260,000-square-foot facility in Whitsett, N.C., in 2021, a move that added 200 jobs” The owners were always intending to move to NC long before the tariff issue started,
Yeah! I bought all PrePac RTA kitchen cabinets and pantries for my spare room. I lined the entire room wit these cabinets. They are quality, easy to assemble and very attractive and placed in the center of the room 4 large base cabinets back to back with laminate on top that I use for my seed starting. I keep all my extra food in them and when repair people show up, they don’t know whats in them. Glad to see a great company relocating to the US. I highly recommend their products.
https://www.prepacmfg.com/product-categories/storage
As a North Carolinian this is terrific news.
The area I live in was once known as the furniture capital of the world (before the giant sucking sound). Kids could come out of high school and get a really good paying job with the furniture and textile mfgs. A man could make an income that would support his stay at home wife and children and he could buy a home. The industry created many ancillary jobs.
Now this area has been hollowed out and lots of young people have turned to drugs.
God bless our beautiful President!
And if we can bring back the American Chestnut in huge numbers, the availability of quality wood will make this much easier.
If Canadian’s want to join “Hate America, Inc”, all I can say is the proverbial, “Well, bye”.
It’s not that we don’t want our Canadian friends at our side, and vice-versa. It’s that we don’t want freeloaders who pose as friends, anywhere near us. People who actively hate us? They’re in a whole ‘nuther category called “hurt”.
Generally speaking, American’s are a good hearted, easy going crowd. It takes sincere effort and will to join those on our sh*t list. It’s a heck of a lot more difficult to reestablish that kind of relationship. Really foolish of them, to flush it down a hole with a warm, Canadian smile.
https://www.livingcozy.com/blog/american-made-furniture
And there it is…the difference between the way Mark Carney wishes the world works and the way Donald Trump knows the world works!
Canada is on the verge of losing much of its manufacturing base because America is the main market for many Canadian companies and they will avoid Trump’s tariffs by making their stuff here.
The Great White North is about to be left out in the cold and no carbon tax will save it!
I have a cherry wood desk from Grand Rapids Michigan. Waterfall bedroom sets. Antique Dealer told me he found 2 K in a roll hidden in the dresser when I bought it.
“Waterfall-style Art Deco dressers, popularized after a stir at the Paris Colonial Exposition in 1931, were initially mass-produced in the United States, with a company in Grand Rapids, Michigan being among the first to produce them, and later by other factories” Have a Vanity that looks like this.
Beautiful dresser.
Wow! Exactly like my Grandma’s. Won’t be finding any money in it though. She sent money from her meager Social Security checks to shyster minister’s and televangelists. Was still getting their mail to her years after she died which were strangely similar in format to the DNC donation mail my Mother continued to get after she died. Matthew 7.21-23. May they all suffer the 2nd death in the Lake of Fire, and I’m keeping the Waterfall-style Art Deco vanity dresser to pass on to my Grandchildren someday. Heirlooms have sentimental value in my family. Live just south of Grand Rapids too.
I had one like that in Germany.
It was already old when I bought it, still over there somewhere, very nice piece.
This is even more devastating than just the 170 direct jobs lost. The knock on effects amplify this. As the factories close the support jobs are lost also. The drivers who deliver , the restaurants reduce staff or close , and so forth. Enough close it becomes an economic death spiral.
Yoo-hoo! I can see Whitsett from my back door.
WINNING!!!
This is the FO in FAFO!
Nobody cried for North Carolina when the furniture building jobs left NC because of NAFTA.
NAFTA is a lie.
I understand .
But did you text your financial support to Bill and Hillary Clinton for Haiti?
Considering the political reality of NC they could have chosen a superior location to relocate to….
As it is their move has virtue signaling for the sake of optics all over it.
“The dog has his vomit
The sow has her mire
And the burnt fools bandaged finger
Goes wabbling back to the fire”.
To make people think it must be really beautiful furniture from North Carolina – particle board –
what an insult!
My thoughts exactly.
A secondary effect to the horrendous loss of jobs is that the crap that comes in from other places is low grade junk. The craftsmanship of that made in NC was second to none. The Canadian company is a prime example – particle board junk.
Maybe they are coming to NC to learn some better techniques from any remaining experts in the furniture business.
They must be aware of the regional history there and perhaps they are one of many who will bring more jobs to NC.
Once upon a time, the furniture manufacturing in NC and surrounding states produced much of the fine furniture in the world. Names like Henredon, Thomasville and Drexel Heritage would show their lines at the fall market in High Point. I don’t know if we’ll ever see that level of craftsmanship in the USA again, but I sure hope so. Make Fine Furniture Great Again!!!
Ethan Allan is still going strong and I think Broyhill was another biggie from NC. Back in the 70’s my mother had a huge 8 foot long TV/record player/radio HIFi credenza from NC in the living room. That piece was so heavy it took 4 men to move it out after she passed. I didn’t have space for it so it was donated, but it was a wooden beast with beautiful carving and expertly made doors, fittings and quality sound. Such amazing craftsmanship.
I have Thomasville furniture in two of my bedrooms. Nice furniture from the early 1970’s and 1980’s. Paid good money and got good quality.
Once upon a time, the furniture manufacturing in NC and surrounding states produced much of the fine furniture in the world. Names like Henredon, Thomasville and Drexel Heritage would show their lines at the fall market in High Point. I don’t know if we’ll ever see that level of craftsmanship in the USA again, but I sure hope so. Make Fine Furniture Great Again!!!
Liking the above comment!
The craftsmanship and the people . . . High Point . . . not only furniture people, but the people at Thomas Bus . . . so polite and intelligent, soft-spoken and congenial and intelligent. Is it the water?
Harrison, a Canadian here, completely at odds with Canada. You are totally right, most Canadian companies are just that…….assembling stuff, not making anything from scratch. There is at this moment not one, not single person in media, politics, business who is talking sense in Canada. NOT ONE SINGLE person. Most Canadians, in my humble opinion are very ignorant, unintelligent and pretty devoid of any rational thought or commonsense.
I appreciate your honesty Kevin and have to agree that in most countries, including here in the USA as well, that there are far too many that fit the description as laid out in your humble opinion. That said, have also known some very nice, level headed, rational and intelligent Canadians – so I know you aren’t the only one. I pray that there is a drastic change among all nations and a return to thoughtful, rational discourse laced with heavy doses of (un)common sense everywhere. One key IMO is ridding ourselves of those who wish to enslave us all and their propagandists in the media. Hopefully your countrymen wake up and rid themselves of those like Carney. Cheers.
My father worked for a furniture company for 42 years in a small E. TN town that was based in High Point, NC.
Actually, the town had several factories that made bedroom and dining room furniture. Also located there were factories that made car seats and Berkline, well known upholstered furniture.
After NAFTA, slowly but surely those factories closed, taking the jobs with them. Very sad. Whole families lost their lively hoods, along with just about everything they owned.
Now, it’s a haven for illegals and the highest paying jobs are Walmart.
Only big employer seems to be old dominion freightline