President Trump signed an executive order on Saturday, entitled “Freeing Our Forests”, which will concentrate on streamlining the regulatory permit process, which makes harvesting wooden storage.
At the same time, Trump orders the trade department to organize an investigation into the national security heal for the import of wood,
The civil servant also refused to say whether final rates that arise from the probe would be additive for Trump’s existing plans to impose so -called mutual rates on other countries, or a 25% levy on Canada and Mexico to hit next week.
The research will investigate whether exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil dump wood on American markets at the expense of US economic prosperity and national security, according to a high officer who has informed reporters on the condition of anonymity.
Civil servants will investigate the impact of foreign government subsidies, predator trading and derived products – and especially if countries such as China artificially depress the price of goods such as kitchen cabinets. Trump has said earlier that he will look at 25% rates for wood in the near future, but the civil servant said that the research could also lead to legal changes to alleviate the harvesting of wood.
The movement on wood serves double political purposes for the president. Trump has long been blamed forest maintenance instead of climate change for a wave of forest fires in California, including the recent fires that decimate large parts of the Los Angeles area.
And Softwood Hout has been an annoying annoying decades in the trade relationship between Ottawa and Washington, in which American industry accused Canadian producers of dumping low priced wood across the border. The US claims that Canada subsidizes its lumberjacks by charging cheap costs for harvesting and has repeatedly hit tasks on Canadian softwood over the years.
Last summer the US Hiked Heffies on Canadian Hout up to 14.54%, a level that has already put pressure on production and has been concerned about the future viability of some northern sawmills.
Nevertheless, a rate of 25% – especially if on top of the existing tasks – would cause economic pain on both sides of the border. The production of the American wood has risen, but the country still trusts imports to meet demand. According to the National Association of Home Builders, a large majority of the US input comes from Canada.
Trump also signed an executive action in February to lead the commerce department