Lumber Tariff 'Raises Cost of Housing for Millions'

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced plans to impose countervailing duties averaging 20% on Canadian softwood lumber. Lumber is an important building material, which has already seen its prices jump 20% since the beginning of the year in anticipation of this tariff.

MacDonald calls this tariff "unwarranted" and says that it is not the "answer to resolve the U.S.-Canada lumber trade dispute." One solution that he suggests is to simply seek out new suppliers.

An employee monitors lumber as it moves through machines for processing at the West Fraser Timber Co. sawmill in Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada, on Friday, June 5, 2015. Since the late 1990s, the grain-of-rice-sized mountain pine beetle has attacked and killed more than 700 million cubic meters of pine trees in the inland forests of British Columbia, Canada's top lumber-producing province. Photographer: David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Last year, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) held productive talks with the Chilean government, trade experts, and industry officials that focused on increasing exports of softwood lumber to America. NAHB is also exploring opportunities in Sweden and Brazil to open up competition in the U.S. lumber market to a steady supply of affordably priced lumber and keep housing affordable for home buyers.