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U.S. Lumber Coalition: U.S. Trade Law Enforcement and President Trump’s Section 232 Tariffs are an Unparalleled Success in Boosting Domestic Production and Cutting Unfair Trade

U.S. LUMBER COALITION

U.S. Lumber Coalition: U.S. Trade Law Enforcement and President Trump’s Section 232 Tariffs are an Unparalleled Success in Boosting Domestic Production and Cutting Unfair Trade

PR Newswire

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2026

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Effective U.S. trade law enforcement coupled with President Trump’s highly effective Section 232 tariff measures have forced a reduction in Canada’s U.S. market share to more natural levels not seen in half a century – currently at 19 percent, down from 34 percent in 2016. Simultaneously, ample softwood lumber supply for the U.S. market has been sustained as the U.S. softwood lumber industry responded to the border measures by making investments to add 8.6 billion board feet of softwood lumber production capacity since 2016. Through these investments, U.S. lumber manufacturing facilities have produced an additional 36 billion board feet of lumber since 2016. That is more U.S. lumber produced by U.S. workers to build U.S. homes while supporting 1.3 million U.S. jobs.

While Canada’s reprehensible response to U.S. trade law enforcement is to double down on its unfair trade practices, having announced billions of dollars in new subsidies since August 2025 alone, the U.S. Lumber Coalition will continue to work aggressively to bring about a further reduction of Canada’s massive, unsustainable, and harmful excess lumber capacity that is at the core of Canada’s dumping and unfair trade practices. 

“The U.S. Lumber Coalition strongly applauds President Trump’s firm commitment to enforcing our trade laws and using all tools available to address the problem of Canada’s massive excess softwood lumber production that is at the center of Canada’s harmful unfair trade practices. It is essential to address Canada’s continued unfair trade practices in order to further boost our domestic softwood lumber production capacity,” stated Zoltan van Heyningen, Executive Director of the U.S. Lumber Coalition. 

“Canada consumes around 7.5 billion board feet of softwood lumber annually but maintains an annual production capacity of 27 billion board feet. Almost 90 percent of their softwood lumber exports depends on the U.S. market, causing Canadian softwood lumber producers to dump their product into the U.S. market in a desperate attempt to maintain their lumber production and U.S. market share. Those same Canadian lumber producers then depend on massive subsidies in order to make their entire scheme work while causing U.S. job losses,” added van Heyningen.

“Canadian dependency on the U.S. market coupled with their massive excess lumber capacity has been suppressing and harming U.S. softwood lumber producers and U.S. workers for far too long. President Trump has the power to address Canada’s massive and harmful excess softwood lumber capacity by adjusting border measures until Canada reduces its excess lumber capacity to levels where it can no longer engage in unfair trade. After reducing Canada’s market share from 34 to 19 percent, we are about halfway to achieving the Canadian market share levels needed in the United States to eliminate Canadian unfair trade practices,” stated van Heyningen.

Canada is doubling down on unfair trade, announcing billions of dollars in new softwood lumber subsidies since August 2025 alone in direct response to the United States’ enforcement of antidumping and countervailing duty laws and President Trump’s Section 232 tariff measures. Canadian provinces are now calling for even more subsidies in order to maintain the country’s massive and unneeded excess softwood lumber capacity, which is designed to maintain Canadian jobs at the direct expense of U.S. jobs and the stable supply of U.S.-made softwood lumber.

  • British Columbia’s Prime Minister and Forest Minister are calling for billions of dollars in additional softwood lumber subsidies, stating that the federal government should “double or even triple the more than $2 billion in support … provided to the sector nationwide since last August,” urging the Canadian federal government to show up “with their chequebooks” to hand out more Canadian taxpayer funded subsidies.
  • Ontario’s provincial government has released its latest plan for maintaining unneeded and harmful excess lumber production capacity, which depends on the U.S. market to absorb 97 percent of the province’s exports. Ontario’s plan is specifically designed to “protect forestry businesses and workers from the impact of … duties and tariffs” in order to “keep critical mills operating by working with the federal government to get their support through provincial funding programs to mitigate the impact of tariffs and duties in the sector.” Their stated main concern (which echoes all of Canada’s concern) is that duties and tariffs make it “more likely to replace Ontario-made forest products with domestic [i.e., Made in USA] alternatives.”
  • New Brunswick is boasting that, through new and expanded multi-million dollar subsidy schemes, “New Brunswick was the only place in Canada that’s kept all its big lumber mills open – all 18 of them – with none of them cutting shifts.” The provincial government has explained that it achieved this result by “helping the industry’s entire value chain – including spinoff businesses that use saw dust, wood chips, pulp and the like – by making enough wood available on Crown land and keeping royalty fees on timber low.” 

“It is outrageous that Canada is openly boasting about its plan to actively subvert the proper and appropriate U.S. application of its trade laws, mainly antidumping and countervailing duties, and President Trump’s goal of increasing U.S. softwood lumber production through his Section 232 tariff measures,” stated van Heyningen. 

“Thankfully, President Trump has the power and the tools to address Canada’s outrageous unfair trade behavior. Canada has built its own deep dependency on the U.S. market with its commitment to maintaining the excess capacity that drives its unfair trade behavior, and, ironically, it is this self-imposed dependency that may provide the solution to Canada’s unfair trade practices, as it gives President Trump full control over the level of Canada’s excess lumber capacity through appropriate U.S. border measures. The President can exert that control by simply increasing tariff collections at the U.S. border which are paid directly by Canadian softwood lumber producers who own the importers of record,” concluded van Heyningen.

NEW CANADIAN SUBSIDIES ANNOUNCED SINCE AUGUST 2025 
Canada’s Unfair Trade is Threatening America’s Rural Main Street Economy

Canada has a long and well-documented history of subsidizing its forest industry in order to maintain its unfair trading practices, with several dozen *programs investigated and countervailed since 2016. Since August 2025, Canada announced an estimated C$2.1 billion in forestry-specific subsidies designed to counter and undermine U.S. trade law enforcement. In total, Canada’s forest industry has access to new or augmented government support programs amounting to more than C$9.9 billion dollars.

Federal: C$1.7 billion in Forestry Subsidies and making available more than C$9.152 billion in total aid

Alberta:

British Columbia: C$202.6 million for the forestry industry specifically (including 170 million estimated for stumpage deferral), and more than C$612.5 million in total

Manitoba: C$18.2 million for the forestry industry specifically

  • Canada-Manitoba Workforce Tariff Response: In March 2026, the GOM announced that through the Workforce Tariff Response program, it would be receiving $18.2 million over the next three years to “retrain displaced workers for high demand sectors, provide upskilling opportunities for current employees and support businesses as they adapt to new products and markets.” The fund will benefit workers in industries affected by tariffs, such as steel and lumber. (https://www.gov.mb.ca/asset_library/en/budget2026/budget2026.pdf)
  • Tax Deferrals for Businesses Impacted by Tariffs and Wildfires: In its Budget 2026 announcement in March, the GOM stated that would be providing “targeted tax deferrals for businesses impacted by tariffs and wildfires” to “give{} businesses flexibility to manage shot-term financial pressures.” (https://www.gov.mb.ca/asset_library/en/budget2026/budget2026.pdf)

New Brunswick: C$1 million for the forestry industry specifically

Ontario: C$148 million for the forestry industry specifically

Quebec: C$80 million for the forestry sector specifically

Saskatchewan: C$15.6 million

CONTACT: Zoltan van Heyningen
zoltan@uslumbercoalition.org | 202-805-9133

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SOURCE The U.S. Lumber Coalition

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