The White House is increasing the amount of wildfire fuel in the forest floor by 25% in part of its efforts to reduce construction costs.
The United States imports about 30% of its wood products than any other country. The Trump administration is trying to change that. We want to reduce the imports of wood to 5%.
The top wood product exporter to the US is far more Canada. The US brings more than $11 billion in timber from its neighbors to the north, bringing about 85% of all U.S. timber imports. The United States imports approximately $24 billion in wood each year, including countries such as China, Brazil, Vietnam and Chile.
Canada's timber tariffs have almost doubled under the Biden administration to 14.54%. The National Association of Home Builders has called on the administration to suspend tariffs.
Since then, recently, the Trump administration has been set to bring tariffs on Canadian wood imports, at least for the time being, up to 34.45%, before retreating. Therefore, the current tariff rate for Canadian wood remains at 14.54%.
On March 1, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders (see here and here) aimed at increasing domestic timber production. The executive order applies to commercial logging on federal lands, calling for delays in permits and reduced regulations. They also want to draft the necessary laws to achieve this goal.
The White House employs several federal agencies that create plans to boost the production of wood. These agencies include the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service.
The Trump administration has also ordered the Commerce Secretary to investigate how America's dependence on timber imports affects national security. One Executive Order reads:
Unfair subsidies and support from foreign governments for foreign timber, timber and their derivative products require action under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act to determine whether imports of these products could undermine national security.
The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) and the American Loggers Council welcomed the news. AFRC President Travis Joseph called the White House's actions common sense. He added in a statement:
Our federal forests have been mismanaged for decades. Americans pay the price almost every way. Lost employment, lost manufacturing, infrastructure. Loss of recreational opportunities such as hunting and fishing, and access to the land. Degraded wildlife populations, water, and air. Landscapes and communities devastated by wildfires. Our federal forests are facing an emergency. It's time to take action right away and start dealing with it.
Joseph ridden the previous administration for failing to prioritize the American timber industry. “American wood products should come from America,” he said.
The Forest Service manages 193 million acres, but only half of them are used to harvest the wood. For 20 years, tree deaths in national forests have surpassed timber harvesting, according to the AFRC.
A shortage of housing
Meanwhile, housing shortages continue in the US. The Forest Service sells enough wood to frame 175,000 homes each year, but can sell enough American-made wood to assemble more than 385,000 American homes a year, AFRC said.
The National Association of Home Builders says material costs have increased 34% since 2020. Imports account for nearly $13,000 of the total building materials worth $174,000 to build a new average single-family home. The White House says an increase in domestic timber production should reduce construction costs.
Wildfire control
Another major issue related to the production of wood is wildfire control. For the past decades, environmental groups have been hampered through excessive litigation forest clearing in the name of protecting the environment. The environmentalist lawsuits have produced more essentially more fuel for bigger, more intense wildfires. Scott Dane, director of the American Loggers Council, recently told Fox News that the obstruction of environmentalists' responsible forest management has created millions of cut-off forest acres.
According to the USDA, 67 million acres of federal forests are at “very high or high fire risk,” with about 79 million acres at risk or have already experienced insect and disease invasion. The Forest Service manages 144 million acres in 43 states, aiming to reach 43 million acres of the acres used for timber production.
Of course, environmentalists are not happy. They complain that clear national forests pollute the atmosphere and water, put wildlife at risk and exacerbate climate change. “Trump's Order unleashes chainsaws and bulldozers in our beautiful, irreplaceable federal forests,” said Randy Spibach, director of public land policy at the Center for Biodiversity.
