The Hardwood Federation has shared the following policy alert regarding the tariff situation as of February 14, 2025:
On Thursday, President Trump announced that the administration, through the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Department of Commerce and other agencies, would move forward with reciprocal tariffs on a country-by-country basis, avoiding what he characterized as a “one-size-fits-all” approach to trade arrangements. The anticipated action will follow submission of agency reports, analyzing the extent of trade imbalances between the U.S. and specific trading partners are according to administration officials. After submission of the reports, which are due April 1, the White House directive orders federal agencies to “initiate … all necessary actions to investigate the harm to the U.S. from any non-reciprocal trade arrangements adopted by the trading partners.”
Reciprocal tariffs usually refer to measures taken by both parties to ensure fairness in bilateral commerce. The goal is to offset not just a trading partner’s own tariffs on U.S. goods, but also other factors deemed to put American manufacturers at a disadvantage, such as subsidies to businesses that are seen as unfair, regulations, value-added taxes (VATs), exchange rates, and lax intellectual property protections. These so-called “non-tariff barriers” can be hard to quantify. Reciprocal tariffs could be imposed in a number of ways: They could be applied to specific products, to entire industries, or as an average tariff on goods arriving from a specific country.
This action is the latest in a series of developments on trade. In case you’re not able to keep up, here’s a quick recap:
Aluminum and Steel Tariffs: On February 10, the administration announced it would impose a 25% tariff on global steel and aluminum imports, which will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on March 12.
Canada and Mexico: Even though Canada and Mexico are subject to the product-specific tariffs on steel and aluminum, imposition of broader 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico continue to be on hold until March 1. Both countries have promised retaliatory action should tariffs move forward. Canada’s retaliatory list includes a 25 percent tariff on wood and products from the U.S. including hardwoods.
China: 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S. went into effect on February 1, prompting retaliatory tariffs on a limited set of products from China, which went into effect on February 10. So far, an expected conversation between Trump and Chinese President Xi to has not yet taken place.
Hardwood Impacts: Currently tariffs on U.S. hardwood exports, if they exist at all, tend to be low, but retaliatory actions could impact the U.S. hardwoods going forward. Although there are examples where tariffs do help level the playing field for U.S. manufacturing, including for downstream hardwood products like hardwood plywood, and kitchen cabinets, a significant percentage of the industry continues to be extremely concerned about the potential impacts of retaliatory tariffs on hardwood exports, particularly those headed to our major trading partners, including China, Canada, and Mexico.
Hardwood Federation Action: The Hardwood Federation Team continues to be active on the Hill alerting our allies in Congress to the potential impacts of retaliatory tariffs on the industry and sharing our proposed relief measure. Now that the Agriculture Department Secretary is confirmed and in place, we hope to have more information about who to contact within her office.