Canada’s trade of lumber into the United States continues to fall, with 1,569.3 thousand cubic metres of softwood traded across the border in January — a 28 per cent year-on-year drop on the same time last year.
That is according to new data published by the US Department of Agriculture, which shows that Canadian lumber prices dropped more than 28 per cent, from $218 per cubic metre to just $158 per cubic metre, over the last 12 months.
It comes as Wood Central revealed last month that total US softwood lumber imports fell to just 30.03 million cubic metres in 2025 — a nine per cent year-on-year drop and the fourth consecutive annual decline, with volumes now more than 47 per cent below its 2005 peak of 57.37 million cubic metres.
Last week, Senate Democrats introduced a new act, the Housing Tariff Exclusion Act, that would see all non-Canadian lumber and engineered wood products exempted from Trump’s tariff regime. NAHB Chairman Bill Owens backed the bill, calling it “an important step forward to create more certainty for American businesses and to address the nation’s housing affordability challenges.”
To date, 60 per cent of builders have reported cost increases attributable to tariffs, which are being passed directly to buyers and renters, whilst single-family housing starts fell nearly 7 per cent in 2025 to 943,000 — the weakest result since the pandemic recovery.
As it stands, Canadian lumber — which still makes up 80 per cent or more of all lumber traded into the United States — now carries a combined duty rate of 35 per cent, up from 14.40 per cent under the previous review cycle. Wood Central reported this month that the U.S. Department of Commerce has since opened its annual administrative reviews of those same measures, with final results due January 31, 2027. To learn more about the duties on Canadian lumber, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.
