The Supreme Court ruling does not reverse duties imposed under other statutory authorities available to the president. This includes the approximately 35% combined antidumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber, the 10% global Section 232 tariff on softwood lumber, and the 50% global Section 232 tariff on steel and aluminum imports. This tariff uncertainty — along with whether importers and businesses that paid tariffs under IEEPA can receive up to $175 billion in refunds — leaves tariff policy in a state of chaos, which will likely result in additional, complex litigation. American consumers and businesses are unsure how any new tariffs will affect them. In the meantime, more than 60% of builders surveyed by NAHB have reported seeing higher costs because of tariffs. With the nation facing a housing affordability crisis, NAHB continues to urge the president to exempt building materials as part of his tariff strategy.
President Donald Trump announced a temporary import duty under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, shortly after the US Supreme Court struck down his tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Section 122 surcharge is scheduled to take effect February 24 and remain in place for up to 150 days. Under the proclamation, Section 122 duties do not apply to goods that are subject to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 or that are USMCA compliant. The implications for wood products are as follows:
Delaware – President Trump’s announcement of a 15% tariff following last week’s Supreme Court ruling has created uncertainty in financial markets. While some retailers and consumer companies may benefit from reduced trade barriers, domestic lumber and packaging firms face increased competition from cheaper imports. …On Monday, domestic lumber companies saw their stock prices drop amid concerns that cheaper foreign imports could undercut their pricing power. The court’s tariff decision threatens to erode the competitive advantage that domestic packaging and lumber businesses previously held against lower-cost foreign competitors, industry analysts warn. RBC analysts identified potential negative consequences for companies including Clearwater Paper, Rayonier, Sylvamo, and Smurfit WestRock. A recent industry survey revealed that most U.S. purchasers reported declining containerboard prices in February, as increased European imports expanded supply and created additional pricing pressures. Monday trading saw Smurfit and domestic competitor International Paper decline by 7% and 6%, respectively.
US President Donald Trump just lost his biggest emergency tariff weapon at the US Supreme Court – but for Canadian exporters and long‑term investors, the real story is that the pressure has shifted to narrower, more strategic sectors that matter for jobs, growth and returns. …Trump reacted by promising new tariffs through other statutes. …Section 232 now defines Canada’s real exposure. …Softwood timber and lumber: 10 percent tariffs imposed last October, alongside US countervailing and anti‑dumping duties on Canadian lumber that the Commerce Department increased from 14.5 percent to 35 percent earlier this year. …Upholstered wooden furniture, cabinets and vanities: 25 percent tariffs since last October; a planned increase in January was paused. …Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister for US–Canadian trade relations, told CBC News that “what’s hurting the Canadian economy are the sectoral tariffs under a different American law,” and said this “reminds us again of the importance of diversifying our trading relationships.” 
The US Lumber Coalition has expanded its list of complaints against Canadian softwood producers. The group has presented nine “new subsidy allegations,” claiming that Canadian producers benefit from federal government programs, including one that offers refundable tax credits for clean technology such as solar power. …The Commerce Department is investigating the nine new allegations put forward by the group. Canada has repeatedly rejected American arguments that Canadian producers benefit from subsidies and also denies dumping. …One of the group’s complaints targets a federal program in Canada, open to eligible forestry companies, that provides refundable tax credits for carbon capture, utilization and storage. In addition, the group’s allegations name provincial programs in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. …The Commerce Department deferred a potential probe, suggested by the Coalition, into cases pertaining to alleged subsidies for long-term timber tenures in BC and Alberta. [to access the full story a Globe & Mail subscription is required]
It took only a few hours after the 
The US Customs and Border Protection agency said it will halt collections of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act at 12:01 a.m. EST on Tuesday, more than three days after the US Supreme Court declared the duties illegal. The agency said in a message to shippers on its Cargo Systems Messaging Service that it will de-activate all tariff codes associated with US President Trump’s prior IEEPA-related orders as of Tuesday. The IEEPA tariff collection halt coincides with Trump’s imposition of a new, 15% global tariff under a different legal authority to replace the ones struck down by the Supreme Court on Friday. CBP gave no reason why it was continuing to collect the tariffs days after the Supreme Court’s ruling. The message noted that the collection halt does not affect other tariffs imposed by Trump under the Section 232 national security statute and the Section 301 unfair trade practices statute.
US labor productivity in construction falls 30% from 1970 to 2024, while aggregate US labor productivity more than doubles over the same period, widening a long-running gap between construction and the wider economy. Since 1965, construction labor productivity falls by an average 0.6% per year, while economy-wide productivity grows about 1.6% per year, based on analysis by Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research. The analysis links part of the gap to limited innovation in construction equipment and processes after a period of faster adoption in the 1950s and 1960s. The share of industrial machines in total construction production costs rises from 4% in 1948 to 12% in 1968, then slips to 10% in the 1970s and stays near that level, while pre-fabrication’s share of new residential housing units falls from about one-third at its peak in 1960–1970 to 5%.
Contractors in certain niches can expect some meaningful materials price reductions after the Supreme Court struck down most of President Trump’s tariffs Friday. The court rejected Trump’s claim to authority to impose reciprocal tariffs. That would drive “a modest but meaningful reduction in materials price escalation” for specialty equipment, HVAC and electrical systems and fixtures, said Anirban Basu, chief economist at Associated Builders and Contractors. …But the administration quickly signaled plans for alternative tariff methods shortly after the ruling. AGC also noted other materials-specific tariffs on lumber, steel, aluminum and copper products are unaffected by Friday’s decision. Taken together, that means the Supreme Court decision “could be short-lived and completely counteracted,” said Basu. That back-and-forth tends to stall construction activity as owners and contractors weigh whether the decision will hold. …AGC has told builders not to hold their breath waiting for refund checks.
The Wood Innovations Funding Opportunity supports the growth and expansion of U.S. wood products and wood energy markets, advancing sustainable forest management and the long-term stewardship of National Forest System (NFS) lands and other forested areas. …The Wood Innovations Funding Opportunity provides a strategic platform for public, private, and non-profit entities to expand wood markets, promote sustainable forest management, and advance wood energy and mass timber technologies across the United States. By funding projects that create tangible economic and environmental impact, the program strengthens domestic wood product industries while supporting the responsible management of forest resources. Deadline is April 22, 2026
Massachusetts is considering changing state building codes to allow single staircases in multi-family residential buildings up to six stories. Advocates say the change would result in smaller buildings, space savings that could lead to 130,000 new housing units. Before changing the building codes, which currently require two exit stairways, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has signed an executive order establishing a technical advisory panel to study potential safety issues. “We’re all about making it easier to build more housing across our state to drive down costs for everyone,” Healey said in a statement. “While the double-stair requirement plays an important role in ensuring safety, it’s also holding us back from the type of housing construction we need to meet demand.” …New York City and Seattle, Washington have “permitted single-stair buildings up to six stories for decades,” the administration says…, as have the states of Tennessee, Montana, and Connecticut.
More than 110 million acres of land across the U.S. are protected in 806 federally designated wilderness areas – together an area slightly larger than the state of California. For the most part, these places have been left alone for decades, in keeping with the 1964 Wilderness Act’s directive that they be “untrammeled by man.” But in a time when lands are experiencing the effects of climate change and people are renewing their understanding of Indigenous knowledge and stewardship practices, protecting these places may require action, not inaction. …First, the American ideal that wildlands flourish best in the absence of human management – conflicts with the growing understanding that many wilderness areas are part of the ancestral homelands of Indigenous peoples, who tended those lands for thousands of years. …And second, as climate change and ecological stressors affect wilderness, human intervention could help sustain the very ecological qualities that are protected.
Federal officials are proposing to ramp up logging on 2.5 million acres of western Oregon forests as part of a Trump administration priority to expand domestic timber production. The Bureau of Land Management is asking for public comment on its plan through March 23. The federal agency said last week it would update the Western Oregon Resource Management Plan that governs logging on the state’s checkerboard “O&C forests” located in 18 Oregon counties. Known as O&C lands for having once belonged to the Oregon and California Railroad, the forests produced more than 1 billion board feet of timber annually from 1960 and 1989. …BLM’s latest proposal, issued Feb. 19 … could mean a timber harvest that returns to 1 billion board feet. …Oregon’s timber industry celebrated the latest news… Environmental groups strongly opposed the decision…
ARIZONA — A coalition of local governments, timber industry representatives and environmental groups plans to tell congressional leaders and US Forest Service officials this week that Northern Arizona’s forests — and the timber industry that depends on them — face collapse without construction of a second, 30-megawatt biomass-burning power plant. The group will carry that message to Washington, DC, arguing that a “biomass bottleneck” threatens forest restoration efforts, watersheds and rural communities. Two concurring reports outline the concern: one issued by the Eastern Arizona Counties Organization and the Natural Resources Working Group in the White Mountains, and another from the Greater Flagstaff Forest Partnership (GFFP) and the Forest Biomass Coalition Working Group. …The report concludes that, while private industry may eventually develop products such as fiberboard or biochar from forest byproducts, only a second biomass-burning plant near Flagstaff or Winslow offers a proven, near-term solution.
Montana — Punch more roads through the forest, and you’ll get more people starting fires, fewer bull trout and an even heftier maintenance bill. Keep the 2001 Roadless Rule in place, and you’ll ensure elk have a healthy habitat, and you’ll still be able to reduce wildfire risk. Those were some of the arguments former U.S. Forest Service employees made Friday at the edge of the Silver King Inventoried Roadless Area east of Missoula. Montana Trout Unlimited and the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers hosted the event as the Trump administration takes steps to repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule. The rule prohibits building roads and harvesting timber on 30% of Forest Service land in the country, or 60 million acres. In Montana, that’s 6.4 million acres, or 37% of Forest Service land in the state.
WILMINGTON, N.C. – The N.C. Forest Service (NCFS) is reminding the public to use best practices and common sense with outdoor fires ahead of the state’s spring wildfire season. NCFS officials say escaped yard debris burns are the leading cause of wildfires across the state, often due to carelessness. 99% of wildfires are caused by human activity, officials said, often when people work in their yards in spring and burn yard debris. Other causes of human-caused wildfires include machine and vehicle use, such as dragging tow chains, arson and escaped campfires. “With the recent rainfall combined with multiple winter storms earlier this year, some folks may not realize that most of North Carolina is still experiencing very dry conditions,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “Our state’s gradual descent into drought and prolonged dry conditions are going to lead to wildfires igniting more easily, burning more intensely and spreading quicker.”
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — The Arkansas Department of Agriculture announced some of its forestry personnel will go to Oklahoma and Tennessee to help with wildfire suppression and winter storm response. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders authorized state forestry personnel to support wildfire suppression in Oklahoma and urban tree recovery in Tennessee. …Six wildland firefighters will go to Oklahoma for around two weeks. These firefighters will focus on attacking and suppressing new wildfires to prevent further spread. The Department is also sending four bulldozers and two pick-up trucks to help. Three urban forestry personnel will go to Tennessee to join an Urban Forest Strike Team, a specialized group of certified arborists, foresters, and urban forestry experts. Arkansas forestry personnel will help the UFST with tree damage and risk assessments, hazard mitigation planning, and technical expertise and training.
Supporters of the “Make America Healthy Again” strategy have long railed against pesticides, making opposition to them a pillar of the movement. But an executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump last week collides with that long-held stance. The order states that glyphosate … is “central to American economic and national security” and calls for an adequate domestic supply. Glyphosate inhibits protein synthesis in plants and microorganisms, leading to their death. Scientists can genetically modify field crops — choosing which survive after glyphosate treatment. US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a key figure in the MAHA movement, has long opposed glyphosate-based pesticides. …He reiterated last month on Katie Miller’s podcast that “I believe glyphosate causes cancer.” But Kennedy sounded a different tone. “Donald Trump’s executive order puts America first where it matters most — our defense readiness and our food supply,” said Kennedy.