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Trump Rules Out Day One Timber Tariffs but Plans Trade Overhaul

The new president wants a better deal in global trade, with its eyes firmly affixed on Canada, Mexico and China (three of its top trading partners for forest products)


Tue 21 Jan 25

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Hours after taking office, Donald Trump has walked back on his first-day commitment to slap tariffs on imported Mexican and Canadian products. Instead, President Trump said the United States would collect “massive amounts” of income from foreign trade duties as his administration works to rebuild American industry.

It comes after Wood Central revealed that Trump’s tariff plans—which would see 60% tariffs slapped on huge volumes of Chinese products—would add billions to the cost of timber products in the United States and across global markets. According to a Trump official, the new president would issue a broad trade memo that avoids immediate tariffs and instead directs federal agencies to evaluate relationships with China, Canada, and Mexico.

It comes after weeks of intense speculation, spooking timber markets, and panicked lumber purchasing leading up to the inauguration. While not mentioning specific tariff plans in the address, Trump repeated his intention to create the External Revenue Service – a new agency responsible for collecting “massive amounts” of tariffs, duties, and revenues from foreign sources.

“I will immediately begin overhauling our trade system to protect American workers and families,” Trump told attendees during his inauguration speech. “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”

“Our policies would make America a manufacturing nation once again.”

President Trump during the inauguration speech yesterday.

Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for Commerce Secretary and new trade policy chief, told a rally that the External Revenue Service “will put up tariffs for walls of protection” for industry that will push foreign companies to build factories in America.

The official, confirming a Wall Street Journal report that cited a summary of Trump’s memo, said the new president would instead direct agencies to investigate and remedy persistent trade deficits and address other nations’ unfair trade and currency policies. According to the official, the memo will single out China, Canada and Mexico for scrutiny but will not announce new tariffs. Instead, it will direct agencies to assess Beijing’s compliance with its 2020 trade deal and the status of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (dubbed NAFTA 2.0).

Trump’s plans are a shot in the arm for mass timber ‘made in the USA’

While much of the commentary has focused on the negative implications for pricing and availability, potential tariffs could provide massive opportunities for producers of domestically produced materials, including Portland-based Timberlab, which is now planning to build a mass-timber manufacturing facility in rural Millersburg, Oregon. “That is going to present a renewed opportunity for local production, particularly around mass timber,” said Ezra Hammer, a Jordan Ramis land use attorney in Portland, who spoke to the Mecklenburg Times last week.

Timberlab, one of the country’s largest mass timber manufacturers and suppliers of the timber used in the newly constructed Portland International Airport is leading the way in supercharging mass timber adoption to make it “more affordable and widely usable.” Last year, Wood Central revealed that mass timber construction could grow 25-to-40-fold over the next 50 years, with mass timber consumption growing between 9 and 15 million cubic meters per year, fueled by a surge of new buildings in the American South, the West Coast, Midwest, and Northeast.

Author

  • Jason Ross

    Jason Ross, publisher, is a 15-year professional in building and construction, connecting with more than 400 specifiers. A Gottstein Fellowship recipient, he is passionate about growing the market for wood-based information. Jason is Wood Central's in-house emcee and is available for corporate host and MC services.

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