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DHA and hardwood plywood made news in Washington this week as The Washington Post reported on Russian birch imports by way of China and Vietnam. Earlier this year, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, DHA reported about large volumes of birch plywood imports through Vietnam and noted this material was likely Russian. Now, a new study by the Environmental Investigation Agency has documented this activity. DHA also reported recently that the Commerce Department determined that imports of hardwood plywood from…

Top stories this week include the U.S. Trade Representative's decision to continue Section 301 tariffs on China after receiving a flood of comments supporting the extension. The Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood and the American Multilayer Hardwood Floors Manufacturers Coalition—both of which include several DHA members—filed comments urging the continuation of the 25% tariffs on Chinese products.

As the summer of 2022 unofficially comes to a close, Decorative Hardwoods Association and our industry partners have been active, opposing a new sweeping, universal definition of "old growth forests" that we see as unworkable and inconsistent with diverse forests.

In the previous issue, we reported on the Department of Commerce's recent finding that U.S. imports of hardwood plywood from Vietnam circumvented duties. Recent import data highlights the potential impact of this ruling; as you'll see, imports of hardwood plywood from Vietnam are up by more than 90% this year through June. Now, most of these imports will be subject to tariffs of more than 200% as a result of the Department of Commerce's ruling. Imports from Russia—the U.S.’s third largest source of hardwood plywood—have slowed dramatically…

The Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood, which includes many DHA members, recently won an important victory in their trade cases against unfair imports from Vietnam, which have been surging in recent years. In a preliminary finding, the Department of Commerce concluded that importers of multiple types of hardwood plywood are circumventing tariffs assessed on imports from China. Those imports will now be subject to tariffs as high as 200%.