Up to $1 billion worth of United States forest products could be subject to up to 25% in customs duties after the European Union proposed a new plan to hit Soya beans, poultry, rice, sweetcorn, fruit and nuts, wood, motorcycles, plastics, textiles, paintings, electrical equipment, makeup, and other beauty products in two stages – on May 16 and December 1.
It comes weeks after the European Union hit the United States with “strong and proportionate” measures in response to a blanket 20% tariff imposed by Donald Trump, now in effect, which saw Europe target lumber, plywood, veneer, flooring, chipboard, fibreboard, pulp, and paper in countermeasures.
At the time, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the EU would reinstate tariffs from 2018 and 2020 (hitting more than $8 billion in trade) on April 1, with the balance of the duties to come into effect on April 13.
“(US Tariffs) are bad for business and worse for consumers,” von der Leyen said, warning that a trade war will disrupt supply chains and raise prices across the Atlantic. “These measures are strong but proportionate,” she said, with EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic now charged with resolving the dispute.
The EU is the United States’ fourth most important export market, behind only China ($2.23 billion), the United Kingdom ($1.61 billion), and Canada ($1.62 billion). In recent years, it has expanded market access for lumber, securing a derogation to ramp up exports of high-value oak logs to the EU for three years in 2023.
The tariffs weeks after Wood Central revealed that China, the United States’ largest trading partner for lumber, had suspended all logs arriving at Chinese ports over fears of bark beetle contamination. At the time, China’s General Administration of Customs said the decision, effective March 4, was made to prevent the spread of harmful organisms and protect China’s forestry and agricultural industries as per the Biosecurity Law of China, the Entry-Exit Animal and Plant Quarantine Law, and international phytosanitary measures.
The European Commission’s plans for counter-measures
Wood Central understands that the tariff plan, which will go to a vote later today, will take a qualified majority of EU leaders to vote against rescinding the proposed levies. “The list of products and goods that the EU will impose tariffs on has been the subject of intense lobbying between national capitals over recent weeks,” according to the Irish Times, which reports that doors, window frames and kitchenware (all using substantial volumes of wood) tied up in the duties.
