KENTUCKY — Ray White is a fourth-generation lumberman, whose family mill in Rowan County has been in business for 57 years, supplying hardwood materials from the logs of eastern Kentucky to countries around the world. Business hasn’t been the same since President Trump’s first trade war in 2018, he said. “At that time, we were doing, our company, about 35%, just to Southeast Asia,” said White. “Today, I’m doing less than 5%.” According to the Hardwood Federation, China bought half of America’s hardwood lumber exports before Trump’s 2018 tariffs on Chinese goods resulted in a 25% retaliatory tariff that hurt the industry even after it was lifted. Panic set in, said White, when Trump promised more tariffs in his second term. …White and his brother have reduced staff at their business by 20%, postponed equipment upgrades and sliced their own pay in half, but now there’s nowhere else to cut, he said.