Donald Trump is a step closer to putting timber tariffs on imports after formally instructing Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, to investigate the impact of tariffs on national security. It comes as a 25% tariff will be slapped on all Canadian and Mexican lumber this week (which would see duties on more than $3 billion worth of US-bound Canadian lumber spike at 40%) after Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to pause tariffs last month.
Wood Central understands that Trump signed a memo ordering Secretary Lutnick to initiate a national security investigation into US lumber imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 – the same law Trump is using to impose a tariff on global steel and aluminium imports. The probe—which must be finished within 270 days—also covers derivative products made from lumber, including furniture such as kitchen cabinets, which, in many cases, are made from American lumber that has been exported and then reimported from overseas.
In addition to tariffs, Trump has ordered federal agencies to take new steps within the next 90 days to dramatically increase the domestic supply of lumber by streamlining the permitting process for harvesting lumber from public lands and improving the salvage of fallen trees from forests and waterways. The order calls for new or updated guidance to facilitate increased timber production, including quicker approvals for forestry projects under the Endangered Species Act.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the lumber import probe would counteract the actions of big lumber exporters, including Canada, Germany and Brazil, which he said were “dumping lumber into our markets at the expense of both our economic prosperity and national security.”
“That stops today with a pair of Trumpian actions designed to both bolster the supply of and demand for American timber and lumber,” he told reporters on a conference call ahead of the signing.”
The US military uses large quantities of lumber in installations
A White House official also told Reuters that increasing reliance on imported lumber represented a national security risk because the US military consumed large quantities of lumber for its construction activities and because increasing dependence on imports for a commodity with ample domestic supplies endangered the US economy.
The official did not provide details on a proposed tariff rate under the Section 232 lumber probe, but Trump earlier this month told reporters that he was thinking about imposing a 25% tariff rate on lumber and forest products. The official said any tariffs from the probe would be added to the existing 14.5% combined anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Canadian softwood lumber.
Wood Central understands that most US lumber is harvested from private land at market-determined rates. Home builders have long criticised the tariffs as raising lumber prices and contributing to home price inflation. The official said the new lumber duties would also stack on top of Trump’s threatened 25% general US tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican goods, which are scheduled to take effect on Tuesday unless Trump was persuaded by the two countries’ efforts to secure their borders and halt fentanyl trafficking.
- Click here to learn more about how the US military is now using cross-laminated timber in its military installations. To learn more about Trump’s plans to “free up” vast areas of US forests for timber production -first covered here at Wood Central – click here.
