The American lumber industry sits on its highest excess capacity since the Great Recession -- capacity that could be used to produce more lumber to build U.S. homes. Meanwhile, Canadian dumped and unfairly traded lumber imports are trending up.
"The recent rise of unfairly traded Canadian lumber imports has yet again put tremendous pressure and hardship on the workers in the U.S. forestry industry," stated Andrew Miller, Chairman and Owner of Stimson Lumber. "Canadian companies benefit from the strong support of their federal and provincial governments who are willing to do anything it takes to maintain artificially high market share for Canadian lumber in the U.S. market," added Miller.
"Canadian lumber producers' continuous unfair trade practices are forcing idling and closures of U.S. lumber mills. This is why the U.S. lumber industry applauds and strongly supports President Trump's unyielding stance on fully enforcing the U.S. trade laws," stated Steve Swanson, Chairman of Swanson Group.
"We strongly agree with the statements by Secretary of Commerce nominee Lutnick that foreign countries like Canada have taken advantage of our markets and that this needs to stop," added Swanson. "Canada must cease treating the United States as a dumping ground for its excess lumber production, which amounts to a Canadian jobs program at the expense of American workers, their families, and forestry dependent communities," concluded Swanson.
"In order to maintain and further grow the U.S. lumber capacity gains achieved since 2016, it is absolutely vital to continue the strong enforcement of the U.S. trade laws against dumped and subsidized Canadian lumber imports," stated Zoltan van Heyningen, U.S. Lumber Coalition Executive Director.
"Through the enforcement of our trade laws against Canada's egregiously unfair trade practices in softwood lumber, the U.S. industry has been able to dramatically expand its lumber production capacity. With the continued enforcement of these laws the United States can reach and maintain complete self sufficiency in lumber," continued van Heyningen, adding "President Trump is absolutely correct that the United States does not need unfairly traded Canadian imports to supply the U.S. market. America has the resources to supply its own lumber. U.S. homes built by U.S. lumber by American workers is a win for our nation."
Enforcing the U.S. trade laws helps increase the U.S. supply of lumber to build American homes, all without impacting the cost of a new home, as demonstrated by data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Fastmarkets Random Lengths.
The U.S. Lumber Coalition is an alliance of large and small softwood lumber producers from around the country, joined by their employees and woodland owners, working to address Canada's unfair lumber trade practices.