A 20 percent duty on Canadian lumber imports will raise prices on housing and hurt builders and buyers, the NAHB argues.
The Hill reports that NAHB denounced the Trump Administration’s new tariff plan, which was announced earlier this week. The group says the move is short-sighted and will not resolve the long-standing lumber trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada.
Around a third of the lumber used by home builders last year was imported, and 95 percent of that came from Canada. Lumber prices have already risen 22 percent in 2017, which has added around $3,600 to the price of a new home. The duties on softwood lumber are estimated to be about $1 billion.
Builders called for increasing domestic production by boosting timber sales from publicly owned lands, opening up more federal forest for logging in an environmentally sustainable way and reducing lumber exports.
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