NEWS

The Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood recently commended the U.S. Department of Commerce for its decision to impose preliminary antidumping duties to remedy the unfair trade practices of China, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

"This decision by the Department of Commerce is another critical step in leveling the playing field for U.S. hardwood and decorative plywood manufacturers and combating the spread of unfairly traded imports," said Tim Brightbill, lead counsel to the Coalition. "The domestic industry has been harmed for decades by dumped and subsidized hardwood and decorative plywood."

Congratulations to the Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood and thank you for your leadership. These duties, combined with the countervailing duties, are important steps to prevent the continued destruction of the U.S. hardwood plywood industry and our rural communities.

Join us at our annual meeting to hear directly from Tim Brightbill on the latest in trade policy and litigation. If you have questions or comments, contact me. I look forward to hearing from you.

Keith A. Christman, President

The U.S. Department of Commerce has released its preliminary affirmative antidumping duty findings on hardwood and decorative plywood from China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. These duties went into effect on March 2. Commerce calculated preliminary antidumping duties of 187.27% on imports from China, 19.98% to 84.94% on imports from Indonesia, and 196.14% on imports from Vietnam. The antidumping duties are in addition to preliminary countervailing duties calculated last month, which ranged from 2.40% to 128.66% for Indonesia, 4.37% to 26.75% for Vietnam, and a country-wide rate of 81.34% for China. 

DHA joined more than 600 members of a nationwide coalition to urge U.S. senators to prioritize and pass bipartisan, comprehensive permitting reform legislation. The House of Representatives led the way by passing several important permitting reform bills in 2025. Their efforts reflect bipartisan recognition that our current permitting process is broken.

The European Commission is reviewing the EU Deforestation Regulation and will recommend changes by April 30. The American Hardwood Export Council continues to advocate for practical changes, such as removing the phrase "within a single real estate property" from the definition of "plot of land" to allow county-level compliance. Last year, AHEC built the American Hardwood Assured Platform to provide all due diligence data required by the EUDR. 

The newly introduced Housing Tariff Exclusion Act would automatically exempt many homebuilding materials, including engineered wood products, from current and future tariffs, and allow importers to apply for tariff exemptions on homebuilding materials that aren't exempt. The bill does not apply to antidumping or countervailing duties. The legislation is unlikely to pass, but it is symptomatic of the growing pressure on affordability.

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed technical changes to its formaldehyde emission standards program for composite wood products. Changes include updating the referenced editions of standards used for product specifications and formaldehyde testing and incorporating ISO 12460-2:2024(en) as an additional small-scale chamber method for quality-control testing. The comment period ends March 13.

On March 4, the House Agriculture Committee marked up and passed the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026. The bill includes key hardwood industry priorities: renewal of the Wood Innovation and Community Wood grants, funding for job training for the wood products industry, and codification of biomass as a carbon-neutral source of energy.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has begun its administrative review of antidumping duties on engineered wood flooring that was imported from China from December 1, 2024, through November 30, 2025. Results will be published by December 31.

24 states have sued the Trump administration to challenge the newly imposed 10% global tariffs. The lawsuit argues that Section 122 tariffs were created to address short-term monetary emergencies, not routine trade deficits that arise when the U.S. imports more than it exports.

The U.S. Court of International Trade has ordered refunds for companies that paid the IEEPA tariffs that were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The judge said all importers who paid IEEPA duties are "entitled to the benefit" of the Supreme Court's decision. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said a system for tariff refunds will be operational within 45 days of the Supreme Court decision.

In the last week of February, the Bureau of Land Management sold 27.6 million board feet of timber across 1,255 public acres in Oregon for more than $8.3 million, exceeding the appraised value by more than $3 million. This is a positive indicator of the strong demand for U.S. lumber manufacturing. The timber sold will support local mills and jobs in local communities.

A new statewide initiative, Wisconsin Forests FIRST, will develop a strategic plan and long-term roadmap to ensure Wisconsin's forests remain healthy while supporting a resilient, sustainable, and competitive forest products industry.

The idea that forests and wildlands flourish best without human management directly conflicts with the growing understanding that many wilderness areas were and remain part of Indigenous homelands where people actively managed the lands for thousands of years.

The U.S. Forest Service released a draft plan for logging on more than 925,000 acres across three Montana national forests, "to support local economies and the timber industry." The plan estimates that production will ramp up to 35 million board feet of lumber each year within 10 years.

Which hardwood trees have been proven to emit ultraviolet light during thunderstorms?