Members of Congress and the Biden administration are heeding the concerns of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and its grassroots on the need to take action to resolve soaring lumber prices, supply shortages and tariffs that are hurting home builders, home buyers, the housing sector and the economy.

Lumber

U.S. lawmakers urge action to resolve soaring lumber prices

U.S. lawmakers urge action to resolve soaring lumber prices

Image: Depositphotos

Members of Congress and the Biden administration are heeding the concerns of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and its grassroots on the need to take action to resolve soaring lumber prices, supply shortages and tariffs that are hurting home builders, home buyers, the housing sector and the economy.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told Senate lawmakers that she would “push for solutions to the lumber pricing issues” and address the issue of tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber imports into the United States during a May 12 Senate Finance Committee hearing on President Biden’s 2021 trade policy agenda.

Tai reiterated her willingness to act on this issue 24 hours later during a House hearing in which four bipartisan lawmakers spoke about the need to seek remedies for rising lumber prices by boosting production and ending tariffs on Canadian lumber imports into the United States, as NAHB reported.

During the House hearing, Rep. Kevin Hern (Oklahoma) submitted a statement of record from NAHB where home builders stated that “resolving the long-running dispute with Canada over the trade in softwood lumber and addressing the steel and aluminum tariffs must be a top priority of Congress and the Administration. Building safe, decent and affordable housing depends in large part upon a stable and affordable supply of building materials.”

Separately, Sen. Jerry Moran (Kansas) delivered a Senate floor statement on lumber on May 11 where he cited NAHB statistics on how rising lumber prices have added nearly $36,000 to the price of a new home and a $13,000 increase in the market value of a multifamily unit. Moran called for the elimination of lumber tariffs and to “boost the domestic types of the types of lumber used in home construction.”

Finally, Sens. Moran and Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) sent a joint letter to Tai stating that “the complete elimination of these [lumber] tariffs is necessary to provide relief from rising lumber prices. American home buyers, not Canadian lumber producers, are the ones who end up paying the cost of these trade restrictions.”

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is one of the largest trade associations in the United States,representing the interests of home builders, developers, contractors, and associated businesses.