U.S. Lumber Coalition: Duties on Unfairly Traded Canadian Softwood Lumber Have A Near Zero Impact on the Price of a New Home

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- 

• Since 2016, U.S. mills have added eight billion board feet of production capacity and produced 30 billion additional board feet of softwood lumber, more than offsetting the decline in unfairly traded Canadian imports.
  
  
• The increased U.S. capacity through the enforcement of the U.S. trade laws means that today the United States can supply up to 95 percent of its own lumber needs.
  
  
• Lumber, including delivery and distributor's markup, make up only 1.7% of the price of a new home. Duties on Canadian Lumber make up 0.04% of the price of a new home.
  
  
• It simply is not credible to state that lumber cost drives housing affordability.

Data provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Fastmarkets Random Lengths confirm that cost of lumber is a very small component of the price of a new home. Consequently, duties on a share of that lumber imported from Canada resulting from the enforcement of U.S. trade laws against Canada's egregious unfair trade practices in softwood lumber have a near-zero impact on the price of a new home.

The time has come to turn the page on this false narrative by Canada and its U.S. allies that duties on Canadian softwood lumber are a big driver of the cost of constructing a new home, and instead focus on the positive results of growing U.S. lumber manufacturing capacity through strong enforcement of the U.S. trade laws. The softwood lumber trade cases to offset Canadian lumber subsidies and unfair trade have resulted in more U.S. lumber being produced by U.S. workers to build U.S. homes.

Since the filing of the trade cases by the U.S. industry in 2016, domestic sawmill investment and capacity expansion has been robust. U.S. mills have added eight billion board feet of production capacity and produced 30 billion additional board feet of softwood lumber during this period. That amounts to an average of 3.7 billion board feet a year of added production by U.S. producers. These increases have more than offset the decline in unfairly traded Canadian imports and have resulted in enough lumber to build two million single-family homes.

This strengthening of domestic supply lines to build American homes with American lumber would not have happened without strong enforcement of the U.S. trade laws, which work to level the playing field against subsidized and dumped imports.

"The U.S. trade laws have allowed the domestic industry to dramatically increase its production capacity since 2016," stated Andrew Miller, Chairman and Owner of Stimson Lumber, adding that "the trajectory of the increased U.S. capacity through the enforcement of the U.S. trade laws means that today the United States can supply up to 95 percent of its own lumber needs."

"Since Canada relies almost exclusively on the U.S. market to unload its excess lumber production at any cost—for example, through massive dumping—this new U.S. self reliance for its softwood lumber needs is causing panic within the Canadian lumber export industry," stated Zoltan van Heyningen, U.S. Lumber Coalition Executive Director. "This is why Canada and U.S.-based organizations parroting a 'Canada First' agenda are engaging in an aggressive campaign, widely pushing misinformation about the impact of U.S. trade law enforcement on U.S. housing costs."

"Canada needs to find alternative markets or uses for its excess lumber or face the reality that it is time to right size its industry to a more sustainable level, and change its long history of subsidizing the lumber industry and trading unfairly in the U.S. market", concluded Miller.

About the U.S. Lumber Coalition
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. Our goal is to serve as the voice of the American lumber community and effectively address Canada's unfair softwood lumber trade practices. The Coalition supports the full enforcement of the U.S. trade laws to allow the U.S. industry to invest and grow to its natural size without being impaired by unfairly traded imports. Continued full enforcement of the U.S. trade laws will strengthen domestic supply lines by maximizing long-term domestic production and lumber availability produced by U.S. workers to build U.S. homes. For more information, please visit the Coalition's website at www.uslumbercoalition.org.

CONTACT: Zoltan van Heyningen
[email protected] | 202-805-9133

SOURCE U.S. Lumber Coalition