The U.S. Lumber Coalition today welcomes the imposition of Section 232 tariffs on imports of softwood lumber products into the United States, and applauds President Trump for taking this necessary additional trade law enforcement action.
Components of the Price of a New Home, 2024 (PRNewsfoto/The U.S. Lumber Coalition)
Components of the Price of a New Home, 2024 (PRNewsfoto/The U.S. Lumber Coalition)
The harmful trade practices of Canadian softwood lumber producers, combined with ongoing unfair subsidies provided by the Canadian Government, have been thoroughly documented in the antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings on softwood lumber imports from Canada. Those trade cases offset unfair trade at the border, but have not fully addressed Canada's massive excess capacity, which is currently the root cause of Canada's unfair trading. The U.S. Lumber Coalition is hopeful that President Trump's Section 232 tariffs will help right size the Canadian softwood lumber industry and allow the U.S. industry to grow to its natural size to fully supply the U.S. housing market with lumber made in the USA.
"The U.S. Lumber Coalition greatly appreciates President Trump's and the Commerce Department's commitment to the U.S. wood products industry and welcomes Section 232 tariffs on imports of softwood lumber products into the United States," stated Andrew Miller, Chairman and Owner of Stimson Lumber Co.
"We fully agree with President Trump that the wood products industry, and specifically the U.S. softwood lumber industry, is a critical manufacturing industry essential to the national economic strength, and the industrial resilience of the United States," added Miller. "The time has come for the domestic industry to be able to operate on a level playing field and not be suppressed by predatory imports."
"Canada's excess capacity since 2016 has increased from 2.8 to almost 8 billion board feet – that excess capacity is now the primary driver of Canada's dumping behavior that is forcing U.S. softwood lumber producers to operate at unhealthy and unsustainably low capacity utilization rates," said Zoltan van Heyningen, Executive Director of the U.S. Lumber Coalition, adding that "it is outrageous that the National Association of Homebuilders continues to advocate for the importation of unfairly traded Canadian lumber imports that is harming U.S. workers, U.S. companies, and their communities."
"The United States is the main outlet for Canada's excess capacity and Canada continues to engage in aggressive dumping practices. This behavior is extremely harmful to U.S. producers and workers," added van Heyningen.
There is also evidence that, while imports of softwood lumber products from Canada have declined following the imposition of the antidumping and countervailing duties, the volume of imports from Europe and other sources has increased over the last several years. The U.S. Lumber Coalition has documented numerous subsidy programs provided by foreign governments, such as in Germany and Sweden, that contribute to the disruptive nature of those softwood lumber imports.
"The Section 232 tariffs on softwood lumber products imported into the United States from around the world will facilitate the development of the domestic softwood lumber industry, which will strengthen our domestic supply of softwood lumber products," concluded van Heyningen.
U.S. lumber community voices on President Trump's trade law enforcement and the positive impacts on U.S. manufacturing: https://vimeo.com/1086817309?fl=pl&fe=ti
Enforcing the U.S. trade laws helps increase the U.S. supply of lumber to build American homes, all without impacting the cost of a new home, as demonstrated by data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Fastmarkets Random Lengths.
About the U.S. Lumber Coalition
The U.S. Lumber Coalition is an alliance of large and small softwood lumber producers from around the country, joined by their employees and woodland owners, working to address Canada's unfair lumber trade practices.
