U.S. lumber prices, which have already risen in recent months due to lower production in Canada, could rise even further following newly elected President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on trade from north of the border.
Lumber futures in Chicago rose as much as 2.1% to $599 per 1,000 board feet on Tuesday after the president-elect posted on social media that he
Canada, the largest foreign supplier of lumber to the U.S., has seen a wave of sawmill closures due to higher U.S. duties. The addition of tariffs would further threaten U.S. timber supplies as the country tries to rebuild areas hit by hurricanes.
“What we have seen is that these types of levies or tariffs ultimately cause supply to decrease and prices to increase.
The introduction of tariffs is more uncertain than tariffs, which are reassessed annually, but both would represent a financial blow to Canadian producers, Niquidet said.
In the U.S., tariffs will “further exacerbate our nation’s ongoing housing affordability crisis,” Jim Tobin, president of the National Association of Home Builders, said in an emailed statement. The association already expected price increases in the coming year as demand for housing increases, he said.
Although the US has become increasingly self-sufficient in its timber production, it still relies on imports from Canada to meet domestic demand. And forests in the southern US, the continent’s largest timber production region, faced losses during the recent hurricane season.
After hurricanes Helene and Milton, housing construction in the South
Reconstruction efforts in hurricane-affected areas are slowly gaining momentum and should support strong timber sales in late December and early next year, said Crystal Gauvin, a senior economist at Forest Economic Advisors.