NAHB Welcomes Biden Administration Move to Lower Lumber Tariffs
With lumber prices experiencing extreme price volatility this year and harming housing affordability, NAHB has relentlessly been calling on the Biden administration to eliminate – or at the very least reduce – duties on Canadian lumber shipments into the United States.
The Commerce Department on January 31 took a positive step forward by issuing its third administrative review to reduce duties on shipments of Canadian lumber into the United States from 17.99% to 11.64%.
Following the Commerce action, NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke issued the following statement to the media:
“NAHB welcomes the Biden administration’s move to reduce duties from 17.99% to 11.64% on softwood lumber shipments from Canada into the U.S. Reducing these tariffs is an important step forward to addressing America’s growing housing affordability crisis and easing extreme price swings in the lumber market that have added more than $18,600 to the price of a new home since late summer.
“To help further address the nation’s housing affordability challenges, we encourage the Biden administration to build on today’s positive development by taking the following actions: enter into negotiations with Canada to achieve a new softwood lumber agreement that will eliminate duties; increase the domestic supply of timber from public lands in an environmentally responsible manner; and seek immediate remedies to the lumber and building materials supply chain that will increase production and lower construction costs.”