Letter to the President
The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association delivered the following letter to the White House and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamison Greer on March 24.
The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA), on behalf of its members, respectfully writes to share the perspectives of our industry regarding the administration’s trade policies and its impact on the lumber and building material (LBM) sector. NLBMDA members operate over 6,000 retail stores serving homebuilders, subcontractors and consumers and are driving forces for localized economic activity. Our members are predominantly family owned and operated businesses who have been deeply rooted within their communities for generations.
The U.S.-Canadian lumber and building material industry is predicated on a fundamental understanding that our respective economies flourish when we engage in robust and fair trade between our two nations. Canada has long been a crucial partner in providing the United States with lumber and various building materials. These products are essential to the construction of homes, commercial buildings, and infrastructure across the United States. Canadian lumber and its derivative products —such as engineered wood products—play a key role in meeting the growing demand for new housing and renovation projects. The quality and affordability of these materials have been integral in pursuing our industry’s goal of addressing the affordable housing crisis, an issue that you rightfully recognized on your first day back in the White House.
Counterpoint
The U.S. Lumber Coalition, a business group of softwood lumber producers, is an aggressive opponent of imports of subsidized Canadian lumber, and therefore a proponent of tariffs.
“The U.S. Lumber Coalition applauds the Trump Administration’s strong commitment to enforcing the U.S. trade laws against Canadian unfair trade behavior that is killing U.S. jobs by suppressing U.S. lumber production and continued U.S. production capacity increases,” stated Zoltan van Heyningen, U.S. Lumber Coalition Executive Director, adding that “The trade cases must remain in place as long as Canada keeps subsidizing and dumping.” The executive director further stated that “If Canada does not like the import duties, simply stop engaging in unfair trade and stop violating our trade laws. It’s not complicated.”
Our industry is supportive of your administration’s initiative of increasing domestic sourcing of lumber to reduce reliance on foreign imports through strengthening the U.S. timber industry. However, it is important to recognize that achieving this goal will take time and require significant investment in both infrastructure and sustainable forest management. While domestically available species such as Southern Yellow Pine are a valuable resource, they do not serve as a direct substitute for the many applications where Canadian Spruce-Pine-Fir (SPF) is preferred.
Our industry recognizes the importance of the larger policy goals being pursued by your Administration. However, we respectfully urge you to weigh the long-term implications tariffs have on the affordability of lumber and building materials and the housing construction sector at large. Until domestic timber production is scaled to meet the specific demands of the U.S. construction market, Canadian SPF will remain a vital part of the building materials supply chain. Therefore, it is critical, at a time when inputs to residential construction continue to rise, that no further actions be taken by the Administration that will negatively impact our common goal of improving housing affordability.
For over 100 years, NLBMDA has served as the voice of the lumber and building materials industry in Washington. Our members have advanced policies which expand the economy, increase the domestic workforce, and reduce the regulatory barriers historically hindering small business growth. Following this storied tradition, NLBMDA is committed to working with you and your Administration to identify solutions that enable our industry and the economy at large to thrive.
Sincerely,
Jonathan M. Paine, CAE
President & CEO
National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association
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