U.S. Lumber Coalition Responds to Governor Healey Misstatements Regarding Softwood Lumber

Thursday, November 20, 2025 1:00 pm

U.S. Lumber Coalition Responds to Governor Healey Misstatements Regarding Softwood Lumber | tariffs, duties, United States, Canada,

WASHINGTON (News release) -- Massachusetts Governor Healey recently echoed misleading talking points by Canada and the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) that U.S. duties and tariffs against unfairly traded Canadian lumber imports cause housing pricing affordability issues. Such misleading and false statements have been repeatedly debunked by NAHB's own data and ignore the facts on the ground.

The U.S. Lumber Coalition is urging Governor Healey to reconsider siding with Canada and its well known and documented unfair and harmful trade practices against hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers, thousands of U.S. forestry dependent communities, millions of private U.S. landowners, and hundreds of U.S. lumber companies who provide more than 75 percent and climbing of the softwood lumber needed to build U.S. homes.

"Governor Healey, like all U.S. governors, should be for U.S. industry and workers, and should understand the facts before taking sides with foreign industries and countries engaged in unfair trade practices against the United States," stated Zoltan van Heyningen, Executive Director of the U.S. Lumber Coalition.

"Had Governor Healey and her staff done their research before her unfortunate remarks, they would have understood that softwood lumber prices have been lower, not higher, since the imposition of higher duties and President Trump's additional 10 percent tariff on lumber. Supply and demand, not trade law enforcement and targeted tariff measures against unfairly traded lumber imports, determine lumber prices," continued van Heyningen.

"The Governor and her staff would do well to understand that U.S. lumber production capacity has increased by over 8 billion board feet since 2016 when duties and later tariffs went into effect, with U.S. producers supplying over 36 billion additional board feet of American-made lumber to build American homes. Furthermore, it is Canadian softwood lumber companies who pay virtually all of the duties and tariffs, not U.S. consumers. The cost of lumber makes up less than 2 percent of the total cost of a new home, and hence never has and never will be a factor in housing affordability. In fact, lumber prices have been so depressed that builder companies have boasted in their earnings calls that they will try to use those low prices to their advantage when negotiating deals for the coming year," elaborated van Heyningen.

"An attack on trade law enforcement and common sense targeted tariff policy such as the 10 percent lumber tariffs is an attack on U.S. workers, U.S. companies, and their communities. And we will speak up to defend ourselves against any such attacks and against all Canadian and foreign unfair trade practices," added van Heyningen.

The U.S. Lumber Coalition hopes that Governor Healey and the NAHB will take the following facts into consideration before making any future statements attacking President Trump's focus on trade law enforcement and increasing the domestic supply of softwood lumber:

Who pays duties and tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber imports to the U.S. Treasury and U.S. taxpayers? (Note: Approximately 93 percent of duty deposits paid through 2023, i.e., $5.8 billion, is slated to be liquidated into the U.S. Treasury.)

Here is what Canadian companies say:

West Fraser

Canfor

Domtar

Interfor

Western Forest Products ("WFP")

Conifex

GreenFirst

How much does the cost of lumber impact the cost of an average new home for U.S. consumers? And how does it compare to the profitability margins of U.S. homebuilders?

What has happened to U.S. lumber prices since duties increased from 14.50 percent to a combined average duty and tariff rate of 45.16 percent in early August 2025?

  • Lumber prices have remained at historically low levels since early August 2025.

Who supplies the most lumber for U.S. homebuilding?

  • U.S. softwood lumber workers and producers supply over 75 percent and climbing of the lumber needed to build U.S. homes.
  • U.S. trade law enforcement and tariffs on softwood lumber not only safeguard this vital supply of lumber for our economy, but have helped add over 8 billion board feet of additional U.S. lumber production capacity since 2016, supplying cumulatively over 36 billion board feet of additional U.S.-made lumber to build U.S. homes.

Have U.S. duties and tariffs increased jobs in the forestry sector since 2016?

  • Yes, an estimated 14,000 direct and indirect jobs have been created by the lumber manufacturing sector since 2016 and counting.
  • Today, the industry supports an estimated 750,000 jobs in the United States, often in communities where the addition of 500 or 1,000 jobs makes the difference between life and death of a community.

Canadian provincial and federal government officials point to the need to protect Canadian jobs when announcing billions of dollars of additional subsidies aimed at neutralizing President Trump's U.S. trade law enforcement and additional tariff measures. What is the cost to the United States of these new and mounting Canadian lumber subsidies?

  • U.S. jobs.
  • U.S. lumber production capacity.
  • U.S. self sufficiency in lumber supply.

"We applaud President Trump's focus on fully and effectively enforcing the U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws. We also applaud the President for taking the additional appropriate steps of imposing a 10 percent tariff to go after the true cause of Canada's unfair trade practices - massive excess lumber capacity supported by massive and mounting government subsidies. We urge Governor Healey, and all U.S. governors, to support U.S. workers, their communities, and U.S. companies. If we fail them, the result will be a lack of lumber to build U.S. homes. And that will hurt America and make us fully dependent on foreign sources while eliminating yet another U.S. manufacturing sector," concluded van Heyningen.

About the U.S. Lumber Coalition
The U.S. Lumber Coalition is an alliance of large and small softwood lumber producers from around the country, joined by their employees and woodland owners, working to address Canada's unfair lumber trade practices. Our goal is to serve as the voice of the American lumber community and effectively address Canada's unfair softwood lumber trade practices. The Coalition supports the full enforcement of the U.S. trade laws to allow the U.S. industry to invest and grow to its natural size without being impaired by unfairly traded imports. Continued full enforcement of the U.S. trade laws will strengthen domestic supply lines by maximizing long-term domestic production and lumber availability produced by U.S. workers to build U.S. homes. For more information, please visit the Coalition's website at www.uslumbercoalition.org.

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