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SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The US Lumber Coalition has slammed the Wall Street Journal, which, over the weekend, reported on the long-running softwood dispute and its impact on disaster recovery. “We were disappointed reading the tired old Canada First talking points on the issue of unfairly traded Canadian lumber imports and US housing,” according to Andrew Miller, Chairman of the US Lumber Coalition and President and CEO of Stimson Lumber.
“President Trump is absolutely right that we do not need unfairly traded and dumped Canadian lumber imports to supply our market,” Miller said in a media statement. “Canada overproduces softwood lumber for the sole purpose of maintaining employment in Canada, and they unload their oversupply of lumber into the US market at the expense of American jobs, companies and their communities.”
According to the coalition, strengthening domestic supply lines to build American homes with American lumber would not have happened without vigorous enforcement of US trade laws, which work to level the playing field against subsidized and dumped imports: “The Wall Street Journal does not appear to understand the process of the US trade laws, stating that President Trump “slapped tariffs on Canadian lumber, which Mr. Biden continued,” the coalition said, with the process of administering and enforcing laws rigorous and transparent.
“Canada has a strong voice in the WTO-sanctioned legal process that determines the level of antidumping and countervailing import duties – over 120 lawyers are working for Canadian interests on this matter in Washington DC. In fact, Canada maintains and enforces similar trade laws to protect its own industries from unfair foreign trade practices.”
“If Canada and Canadian companies do not like antidumping and countervailing duties, then all they need to do is stop subsidizing their industry and stop dumping their product into the US market at the expense of American companies and workers. It is as simple as that,” Miller said.
And regarding lumber and the cost of new housing, the coalition said the Wall Street Journal would do well to look more closely at the numbers before claiming that lumber has contributed to higher building costs: “The Journal states lumber prices are up about 35% from five years ago. This is incorrect. According to the industry publication Random Lengths, softwood lumber prices in December 2024 were 11% higher than in December 2019 (five years ago). Other commodities have seen much larger price increases, including building materials such as iron, steel, cement, and concrete. In short, it is not credible to blame softwood lumber for recent increases in US house prices.”
“Simply put, the cost of lumber doesn’t move the needle when it comes to the price of a new home. Lumber prices saw all-time highs during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21. Lumber prices today are a third of those high, but new home prices have continued to climb,” van Heyningen added.
From 2019 to the first three quarters of 2024, the median new house price increased by 32%, the hourly earnings of US construction workers increased by 24%, and the profits of the five largest US homebuilders increased by 49%. Softwood lumber prices increased by only 8.8% over this period.
“We urge the Wall Street Journal to truly study and understand a subject matter before writing and publishing an Editorial Board Opinion. This American industry of hard-working men and women who provide a stable supply of American-made lumber to build America’s homes deserves better from such publications. Merely repeating talking points from Canadian officials and pro-Canada interest groups is not sufficient to publish a credible opinion piece,” Miller concluded.
Courtesy: www.woodcentral.com.au
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