Nearly 40 Tennessee hardwood companies are among hundreds of U.S. hardwood industry operators calling for federal relief from tariff-induced economic hardship. Tennessee’s forestry products industry supports an estimated 85,000 jobs, according to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, which includes the state’s Division of Forestry. Forest products are the fourth-largest agricultural commodity in the state. Export sales dipped by $45 million in 2023, resulting in an estimated loss of 362 jobs, according to a University of Tennessee report. The industry as a whole lost an estimated $9 billion in commercial opportunities since the 2018 trade war began when President Donald Trump first escalated tariffs against China, one of the United States’ biggest export markets since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. But the lumber industry was not included in federal tariff relief payments made to agricultural producers in 2018, according to an Oct. 14 letter to Trump administration officials signed by 452 lumber industry mills, manufacturers and distributors across the U.S.