Consumer Product Safety Commission chairman Inez Tenenbaum’s visit to China is completed but the direct indictment of the foreign nation’s faulty drywall was not achieved, despite progress in the way of opening dialogue and encouraging cooperation. While Tenenbaum’s visit shows promise in that a visit by an American official puts pressure on China to cooperate with pending litigation claims, that the chairman failed to place blame on the manufacturers and demand results and response is going to disappoint some.
The Wall Street Journal reports
The new chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission wrapped up her first visit to China with a call for domestic suppliers to “do what is fair and just” in responding to allegations from U.S. homeowners over damage blamed on defective Chinese-made drywall.
CPSC chairman Inez Tenenbaum emphasized that a direct link between Chinese drywall and the problems has not yet been established.
“I appeal to companies in the Chinese drywall supply chain to examine carefully their responsibilities to U.S. consumers who are suffering from problems in their homes and to do what is fair and just in each case, if their products are involved,” Ms. Tenenbaum said, “and I want to underscore if their products are involved.”
Such a mixed message of pushing Chinese manufacturers to “examine… their responsibilities” while emphasizing that a direct link has not been made is, again, disappointing to many individuals who looked to the visit as an opportunity for a direct attack on the manufacturers instead of the run-around that has been going on up to this point. While diplomacy is essential, it will be interesting to see if the dialogue will become more heated as evidence is worked through and a more direct link is available.