How Will The New Tariffs Effect the Wood Working Industry

As of Tuesday March 3rd there are now tariffs that have been 25% tariffs added to all goods coming in from Mexico and Canada. For woodworkers and construction it’s the Canadian side that we’re most focused on. The US imported $11.6 billion worth of wood products from Canada in 2024. This 11.6 billion is on trend with the previous year and also in the range of what we have imported from them the 4 years prior to the pandemic. There was a boom in ’21 (19.4 B) and 22′ (17.1 B) , this coincided with the building rush and interstate migration during those years.

First let’s talk about the types of wood we import; most wood coming across the northern border is full logs. This means the trees have been cut down, sometimes the bark stripped off, and loaded on the truck. That wood is then processed into lumber in the United States. That accounts for 5.61 billion dollars worth of wood. The next largest category is particle board and similar materials which accounts for $2.32 billion. There are several more categories of wood products that we get from Canada that are in the hundreds of millions in value. This includes plywood, fiberboard, fuel wood (like the wood chips for smokers or the sawdust used for the pellet grills) and much more.

The next logical question is do we make these products here? If we do, do we make enough and export it? If we could just keep those exports in our market the supply numbers wouldn’t change to much and the price could stay close to if not exactly where it currently is. Well looking up our forestry exports on USDA.gov I found that we shipped $9.51 billion worth of wood products across the world in 2024, $2.23 billion of that went to the neighbors to the north. We make the same types of products that we would be getting from Canada, so the question is whether there are enough trees here.

My uncle is a tree farmer and produces southern pine. This is very commonly used as framing lumber and for most houses in the south, the walls are framed with southern pine. Speaking with him about the tree business the trees take 30 years to mature. They are thinned every 10 years, meaning they’ll cut excess off and trees that aren’t growing correctly are removed. He has several thousand acres in the panhandle and rotates the areas that get harvested. This allows for the wildlife that live in those forest to maintain a habitat, allows for the soil to recover after a clear cut, and also ensures that production continues on a yearly basis. Knowing this life cycle of farmed trees, allows us to consider the market capabilities. The number of trees wouldn’t be a problem and there would be no need to go cut down national forest. The export market would just need to keep their products in country.

The important thing to note is that while our production capabilities are there, I don’t know how or if they would be able to put a halt to exports and sell them domestically. The woodworking industry should be prepared for a slight bump in cost, but we shouldn’t feel it as hard as other industries. Those states along the Canadian border may feel more than us in the south because they likely rely on those imports more, but the trees are here and the production capabilities are here, they just need to get revved up.

Thank you for reading this article, I know it was a little different than the typical topic we cover. If you enjoyed it, subscribe to the newsletter and you can have this sent right to your email once a week. Follow @Crafted_In_Florida on all the socials, and check out our Youtube channel.