NAHB wants help in combatting lumber tariffs

[Bill_D (Bill)]

NAHB wants help in combatting lumber tariffs

The association says lumber tariff increases will exacerbate market volatility and put more pressure on lumber prices.

Andy Carlo

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) wants help in battling the latest lumber tariff moves.

On Nov. 24, the Commerce Department moved forward with its next administrative review to double the tariffs on Canadian lumber shipments into the U.S. from 9% to 18%.

The NAHB, along with the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA), have strongly opposed the Commerce Department’s plan.

According to the NAHB, lumber tariff increases will exacerbate market volatility, put upward pressure on lumber prices, and make housing more expensive.

In response to the Commerce action, NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke issued the following statement:

“With the nation in the midst of a housing affordability crisis, the Biden administration has moved to slap a huge, unwanted tax hike on American home buyers and renters by doubling the tariffs on Canadian lumber shipments into the U.S.," said NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke. This is the worst time to add needless housing costs onto the backs of hardworking American families."

Fowke noted that home builders are grappling with lumber and other building material supply chain bottlenecks that are raising construction costs. At the same time, consumers are dealing with rising inflation that is pushing mortgage interest rates higher.

Now the NAHB wants to get Congress involved. The association is urging members to write or call Congress and tell President Biden to negotiate an updated softwood lumber agreement with Canada.

Additionally, the NAHB wants to see an increase in U.S. lumber production by harvesting more timber from domestic forest lands.

Members of Congress can be contacted here regarding the softwood lumber agreement and the latest tariffs.

“This decision undermines the historic funding commitment made to housing in the Build Back Better legislation and erodes efforts by Commerce Secretary Raimondo and other Biden administration officials to tackle the lumber and building materials supply issues plaguing the industry," Fowke said. “Doubling the tariffs will only exacerbate market volatility, put upward pressure on lumber prices and make housing more expensive.”

[Andrew_Gibson]

@Bill_D i rarely see or hear anyone in favor of tarries. Who are these helping and how come we never hear from them?

[Jeff_Lassle]

The two main positives of international trade is it keeps peace among nations and it checks inflation, two attributes that are not being followed by both the Republican and Democratic parties in Congress and at the Executive Office of Trump and Biden. The Commerce Department, the United States Trade Representative and the International Trade Commission are all comprised of non-experts in the field of macroeconomics and push political agendas as they have done for many decades including massive tariffs against foreign wood product suppliers, steel, aluminum, and so on. I would suggest the NAHB join with the National Foreign Trade Council organization called the Tariff Reform Coalition comprised of 60 plus national associations in Washington, DC representing thousands of American companies, including Ford and GM, in manufacturing, agriculture, retail, and distribution in the U.S. to fight these tariffs that go against everything that is free and open markets and the basics of capitalism. The idea of tariffs goes against the basic economics of David Ricardo’s theory on comparative advantage and is pure mercantilism, or plainly stated, exports are good and imports are bad; a theory started by President Donald J. Trump and his liberal friends of Peter Navarro, Trump Senior Trade Advisor from San Diego, CA and others who pushed for this America First Policy. Mercantilism has never worked in human history and the root cause of many historic conflicts between nations.

Peter Navarro, who formulated these tariffs is a PhD in the fine arts and no economist and writes theories under a pen name called Ron Varo as his economic theories were so far out there in left field that not one economist agreed with him and he was ashamed to use his real name. Trump’s former economic director, Gary Cohn, a former Wall Streeter, was fired by Trump because he went against this tariff and anti-trade edict of Donald Trump and Peter Navarro. Cohn was the most brilliant economist in the Trump administration but disagreed with what Trump wanted to accomplish on his America First (ONLY) Policies. I debated Navarro; he’s a moron.

Members of Congress that need to be contacted are those on the Republican side including the most vocal on promoting tariffs including Sen. Rick Scott, R-FL, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-AR, Sen. John Thune, Rep. SD; Rep. Scalise, R-LA, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, and a host more of those on the far right promoting mercantilism in the United States. Then there are others in the farm belt like Dusty Johnson, R-SD that promotes an anti-trade/China rhetoric that goes against even their own Farmers Union in his state as 1 out of 3 acres grown in the US are destined for export with China being their main customer.

The point is this is all political to garner votes for these politicians; to establish enemies like the Chinese and yes even the Canadians.

We’ve been lobbying since the start of the Tariff Reform Coalition yet Congress refuses to listen; their constituents won’t let them tell the truth and the damage done to the American economic system.

Hope this helps. To join the Coalition, you can contact Claire Pillsbury at the Coalition in Washington, DC. Disclosure: I am a lifelong Republican and fought for Republican values for the natural resource industries; chief industry negotiator on CARB formaldehyde regulations resulting in the grandfathering of existing stock; investigator against the CARB diesel regulations that are currently the problem at the California port chaos. We warned this may happen in the future. Also former #1 trader in forest products at the former NorPac.