The U.S. kitchen cabinet industry supports 250,000 jobs and bolsters countless local economies. In fact, 95% of the industry consists of family-owned companies, with 40% in rural communities. Unfortunately, these family-run companies are now facing assault from overseas.

Over the past decade, the U.S. kitchen cabinet industry has been inundated by a surge of imports. Imported cabinets are being sold in the United States at below-market prices thanks to large, foreign government subsidies and unfair dumping practices. And what began as an import surge from China has now ballooned into a wider flood, driven by transshipment through Southeast Asia and Mexico. In 2024, cabinet imports reached $3.7 billion — double the amount a decade ago. Since 2010, U.S. cabinet manufacturers have lost 20% of the domestic market.

By 2018, for example, China had captured $1.7 billion worth of America’s kitchen cabinet market. The first Trump administration responded with Section 301 tariffs, and U.S. producers also won a hard-fought antidumping case in 2019. These tariffs and trade measures were effective, reducing Chinese imports to less than $20 million in 2024. The tariffs also had no effect on prices. From 2018 to 2020, the Producer Price Index for wood kitchen cabinets rose 1.4% annually, which is less than the consumer inflation rate across all goods.

The damage has been brutal. In the last year, Cabinetworks shuttered plants in Texas and Pennsylvania, laying off hundreds of workers. Dura Supreme Cabinetry laid off all 74 of its employees in North Carolina. UltraCraft Cabinetry will close later this year, cutting 200 jobs. And American Woodmark, Olon Industries, Solid Wood Cabinets, and MasterBrand Cabinets have all suffered mass layoffs or shut down U.S. facilities entirely.

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