Following Tree Frog News’ November 7 op-ed, “Rigged by Design? How Method and Policy Keep U.S. Lumber Duties High”, the US Lumber Coalition responded (Understanding Why Duties Persist — Not Because of Arbitrary Math, But Because of Past and Ongoing Harm) noting that the Department of Commerce did not use “zeroing” in its latest anti-dumping calculation. The note below clarifies what Commerce actually applied and what remains unresolved.
Following publication, the US Lumber Coalition pointed out that the Department of Commerce did not use “zeroing” in its latest anti-dumping calculation. In reviewing the record, Tree Frog News found that Commerce applied a differential-pricing framework, which uses statistical tests to determine comparison methods.¹ However, a 2020 WTO panel found that this framework could produce mathematically similar distortions to zeroing — in effect, “replicating the problem without using the name.”² but because the most recent review record is largely redacted and the WTO Appellate Body remains inactive, there has been no external review of how this method performed in the most recent review.
The more important question, then, is whether the procedural change has addressed the sources of bias identified in past WTO rulings — specifically in how Commerce calculates anti-dumping margins, measures subsidies, and selects its review periods — which continue to produce duty levels that appear inconsistent with actual market conditions. Tree Frog News will continue to report as new information emerges.
Canada’s forestry industry plans to divert a significant share of its wood exports from the US to new international markets. …The aim to send some 1bn board feet to alternative markets underscores how Trump’s tariffs are starting to reshape some global supply chains, although tensions between the US and Canada over wood exports have simmered for more than half a century. …“The US simply needs to fact-check better before they end up with a large shortage of lumber that may cause further housing shortages,” said Rick Doman, chair of FII BC. …Zoltan van Heyningen for the US Lumber Coalition said the American timber industry could replace 1bn board feet of Canadian imports “without batting an eyelid”. …The NAHB says at just 64% of capacity it “will take years” for US domestic lumber production to expand to meet industry demands. …Mike McDonald, a UK-based consultant, acknowledged it would take time to establish confidence among European consumers. [to access the full story a FT subscription is required]
After four major paper and pulp mills closed in Georgia this fall, the phone at the South Georgia Sawmill began ringing nonstop. …woodsmen from Georgia were begging owner Adam Williams to buy at least some of their logs… Williams had to say no. The scene here in Georgia is being replicated in other timber markets, raising larger questions about what measures the United States could take to become more self-reliant and preserve its foundational industries. While most of the U.S. wood supply has historically been homegrown, imports have surged, particularly from Canada. … Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has assembled a task force to suss out new opportunities for Georgia wood. Georgia Tech University, for one, is at the forefront of technology that might one day refine new types of aviation fuel from trees. The state is also pioneering the use of so-called “mass timber” – cross-laminated panels of two-by-sixes that replace concrete and steel. 
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 
The US Census Bureau announced the following value put in place construction statistics. …Construction spending during August 2025 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,169.5 billion, 0.2 percent (±0.7 percent) above the revised July estimate of $2,165.0 billion. The August figure is 1.6 percent (±1.5 percent) below the August 2024 estimate of $2,205.3 billion. During the first eight months of this year, construction spending amounted to $1,438.0 billion, 1.8 percent (±1.0 percent) below the $1,463.7 billion for the same period in 2024. …Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,652.1 billion, 0.3 percent (±0.5 percent) above the revised July estimate of $1,647.5 billion. …In August, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $517.3 billion, virtually unchanged from (±1.2 percent) the revised July estimate of $517.5 billion. 
The Supreme Court could decide on the legality of many of the Trump administration’s tariffs within months, but the ruling won’t impact many of the administration’s levies on imported construction materials such as lumber, steel, aluminum and copper. …Many construction materials imported into the US will remain subject to hefty tariffs regardless of how the Supreme Court rules. Some homebuilding leaders warn that home prices could increase by thousands of dollars beginning next year. …Cristian deRitis, at Moody’s Analytics, said “While importers of other building materials might experience some relief, this could be temporary. The administration may choose to expand the Section 232 tariffs as a fallback strategy if the reciprocal tariffs are invalidated,” deRitis said. …There hasn’t yet been an increase in lumber prices, but NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes forecasted that the lumber tariffs “will create additional headwinds for an already challenged housing market by further raising construction and renovation costs.”
OLYMPIA — The Washington Forest Practices Board took 200,000 acres of timberland out of production, voting 7-5 to require loggers to stay farther back from streams without fish. The close vote Nov. 12 capped a contentious debate over the environmental and economic consequences of widening and lengthening riparian buffers to shade streams. Forest landowners will lose $2.8 billion in harvestable timber because of the new buffers, according to a University of Washington analysis. Ten state representatives, five Democrats and five Republicans, questioned whether the board had thoroughly examined the social costs. And the Environmental Protection Agency said the bigger buffers are not needed to meet the Clean Water Act. But the Department of Ecology championed wider and longer buffers. The buffers will keep timber harvests from warming water temperatures in most cases, according to Ecology. “Not taking action is not an option,” said Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller, a member of the forest board.
On Oct. 17 … the Flathead National Forest’s district ranger in Swan Lake proposed an emergency logging and thinning project west of Blacktail Mountain called the West Truman Project. The project proposal … was published to the Flathead National Forest’s projects website, signaling a departure from the agency’s usual strategy of notifying members of the public about planning projects by email and issuing press releases. It also came with a caveat: The West Truman Project is being analyzed under the USDA’s newly established Emergency Action Determination and, as such, is exempt from the usual layers of permitting compliance — including public comment. …Keith Hammer, leader of the Swan View Coalition, said he wasn’t surprised to see the Flathead National Forest propose a logging project with the stated purpose of reducing wildfire risk; however, he was surprised by the covert way in which they proposed it.
Rising wildfire risk in the Pacific Northwest combined with volatile timber pricing may lower forestland values by as much as 50% and persuade property owners to harvest Douglas fir trees much earlier than planned, according to a new analysis. The optimal age to harvest Douglas fir trees — absent fire risk — would be 65 years. The study, from Oregon State University researchers, suggests that harvesting trees at 24 years would make the most economic sense under the worst-case scenarios. “Basically, under high wildfire risk that rises with stand age, every year you wait to harvest you’re rolling the dice,” said Mindy Crandall, an associate professor in the OSU College of Forestry. Co-author Andres Susaeta, an OSU forestry assistant professor, said the study was a simulation, but researchers are confident in the direction of results. Susaeta said earlier harvesting reduces both long-term timber revenue and impacts wood quality.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Agriculture directed its staff to identify grants for possible termination in the early months of the second Trump administration by searching for more than two dozen specific words and phrases related to diversity and climate change, according to documents seen by Reuters. The effort was undertaken as part of a broad campaign across federal agencies to comply with President Donald Trump’s directives to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and climate regulation in the federal government. Trump … has called climate change a “con job.” The documents, obtained by legal advocacy group FarmSTAND … show the breadth of that effort… The topics and terms included “climate modeling,” “climate and emission analysis,” …”carbon pricing and market mechanics,” “renewable energy modernization that does not directly benefit farmers,” “climate adaption (sic) and resilience planning” and “biodiversity and ecosystem resilience related to climate change”.
Smoke from wildfires causes a cascade of changes in the proteins in the blood of firefighters, according to a groundbreaking study by researchers from the University of Arizona School of Public Health. The researchers found 60 different changes in blood proteins in samples taken from 42 firefighters who battled the Los Angeles wildfires that charred 23,000 acres and forced 10,000 people to flee their homes. Those changes in serum proteome are associated with a potential increased risk of cancer, abnormal cell growth, immune system dysfunction and inflammatory response. …The findings are the latest to highlight the health risks facing wildland firefighters, who for decades have actually been barred from wearing protective masks on the fire lines for fear it would limit their work and lead to overheating. The Forest Service recently shifted its policy to allow firefighters to wear masks if they choose.