DHA eNews - China Retaliates; Tariffs On Hardwoods Increase
President Trump has ordered the U.S. Trade Representative to begin placing additional tariffs on Chinese imports under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that are not already subject to these duties. The USTR indicated that "essentially all" imports from China not yet subject to Section 301 duties would be affected. Antidumping and countervailing duty orders are not affected.
Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead
China immediately announced that it will raise tariffs on U.S. goods worth $60 billion, effective June 1. Tariffs on lumber, logs, and veneer will increase, varying by species. The U.S. exported $1.314 billion in hardwood lumber, $533 million in hardwood logs, and $6 million in hardwood veneer to China in 2018.
A decline in exports and rise in imports suggest that China's economic recovery may be threatened by weaker international demand as the trade war continues.
Roseburg Forest Products announced a reorganization of its manufacturing operations from product line divisions to a geographic and functional support system. Tony Ramm is now Director of Manufacturing – Western Region and Mike Reardon is Director of Manufacturing – Eastern Region.
Kip Howlett, president of the Decorative Hardwoods Association®, discusses the latest news affecting the engineered hardwood flooring market: importers who are avoiding tariffs, new formaldehyde emissions rules, and more.
Paris-based Tarkett will move all Canadian manufacturing activities to facilities in Chagrin Falls, OH and Dalton, GA and shut down its plants in Ontario and Nova Scotia by the end of the year.
A California couple who dug up three heritage oaks, all of which died, and harmed the surrounding forestland were ordered to pay nearly $600,000 in damages.
Illegal logging has decimated the Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary in Cambodia. More than 40% of the 940-square-mile sanctuary, nearly all of which was old growth forest, was lost to illegal logging between 2001 and 2018. The heaviest damage occurred from 2010 on.
Police in Ghana arrested a Chinese woman for illegally transporting four containers of rosewood without a conveyance certificate or lumber inspection certificate. She was traveling without a passport and without a residence or work permit.
Illegal intruders have seized land and cut down trees in three different indigenous territories in northern Brazil. Indigenous leaders have reported receiving death threats for defending their traditional lands.
Travelers, the insurance provider, has committed to planting up to one million trees to aid reforestation of endangered ecosystems in several states. The company will plant one tree every time a customer in one of their key divisions switches to paperless billing.
Following decades of expansion, forests and woodlands have plateaued at 823 million acres, comprising more than one-third of the U.S. landscape. Tree cutting and removal occurs on less than 2% of forestland per year, less than the nearly 3% that is disturbed each year by natural events such as insects, disease, and fire.