U.S. Lumber Coalition slams Wall Street Journal take on tariffs

The HBS Dealer
January 29, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Recently, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board published a piece titled “Trump’s Lumber Tariffs and Disaster Recovery,” which, among other assertions, claimed that “border taxes on imports from Canada will slow rebuilding in Los Angeles and North Carolina.” That notion did not sit well with the U.S. Lumber Coalition. The group… quickly fired back at WSJ. …WSJ, meanwhile, argued: “The U.S. doesn’t produce enough lumber to meet domestic demand and thus imports about a third of the softwood used in home construction, mostly from Canada.” It goes on to make the case that slapping tariffs on Canadian lumber, which President Trump has vowed to do (to the tune of 25 percent), would exponentially raise prices on homes and rebuilding efforts that are already experiencing spiraling costs. The U.S. Lumber Coalition sees the situation quite differently. It claims there’s an easy fix here — and that’s for Canada to “trade fairly.” 

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