Huge shipments of Brazilian lumber, pulp, and structural panel products are in the crosshairs of the US government, after the Trump administration this week kicked off a new probe that will determine if the acts, policies, and practices of the Lula government promotes unfair practices, preferential tariffs, corrupt activities, and illegal deforestation amongst a raft of other activities.
“At President Trump’s direction, I am launching a Section 301 investigation into Brazil’s attacks on American social media companies as well as other unfair trading practices that harm American companies, workers, farmers, and technology innovators,” according to Jamison Lee Greer, Trump’s trade representative: “USTR has detailed Brazil’s unfair trade practices that restrict the ability of US exporters to access its market for decades in the annual National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report. After consulting with other government agencies, cleared advisers, and Congress, I have determined that Brazil’s tariff and non-tariff barriers merit a thorough investigation, and potentially, responsive action.”
Today, Wood Central spoke to the American Loggers Council – a coalition of associations and councils across more than 35 states, who said the reference to deforestation and “undermining the competitiveness of US producers of timber” was critically important, given that Brazil is the second-largest exporter of wood pulp to the US and the leading exporter of softwood plywood: “The US Timber and Forest Products industries have been decimated over the past 36 months,” according to Scott Dane, executive director of the American Loggers Council, who said that 150 primary and secondary forest products mills have closed over the past three years, resulting in the loss of over 10,000 direct jobs and a comparable number of indirect jobs.
“At the same time, the US continues to import the same forest products (lumber, pulp, and structural panels) that these closed mills produced. This is primarily due to unfair trade practices and subsidies from foreign sources,” he said. And it’s not due to a lack of home-grown resources, Dane said, “but instead the importation of cheap foreign resources that often do not practice the same labour and environmental standards that the US timber industry adheres to.” Dane said the investigation “is a major step in correcting this abuse,” with Trump levelling the playing field so home-grown can compete with imports.
In their words: US loggers are all-in on Trump’s probe.
“We are experiencing a flood of imported pulp and lumber products,” according to Richard Schwab, Vice President of M.A. Rigoni, who said many of its largest paper companies are no longer producing products from pulp produced in America.
“I am encouraged to know that President Trump has acknowledged our serious concerns and is taking action to investigate Brazil’s unfair trade practices. For far too long, the US has relied heavily on imports of raw pulp, pulpwood, and timber products – a trend that has devastated our domestic industry, forced mill closures, and cost countless American jobs,” said Toni McAllister, Executive Director for the Louisiana Loggers Association. “Thank you, Mr. President, and the investigation committee for standing up for the American Worker. I look forward to the results of this investigation, in hopes it will lead to the revival of the US timber markets and restore them to the powerhouse they were meant to be.”
“I want to commend the Trump administration for looking into issues such as the unfair trade practices with Brazil. These types of issues are crucial to the US economy. The amount of wood products coming in from Brazil alone has had a significant impact on the timber industry in the US, not to mention the substantial contribution from Canada to our supply chain. The timber industry is what built the economy for the US, and we can get the timber industry back to the top by stopping these unfair trade practices and managing our great green, sustainable natural resources,” according to David Livingston, the Executive Director of the Mississippi Loggers Association. Whilst Freddy Tidwell, Chair of the Alabama Logging Council, said the Southeast has an oversupply of raw materials, which should be sustainably grown, managed and harvested for the benefit of the nation. “It gives me hope and admiration to have such a strong Administration in DC advocating and investing time in this issue.”
- To learn more about the role of organised crime in driving illegal logging in the Brazilian Amazon, click here for Wood Central’s special feature from August 2024.
