US Lumber Prices Surged 30% as Trump's Tariff Strategy Crumbles Again

By The Decision Room

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American framing lumber prices just surged 30% in four months. Not because of a housing boom — because Trump's tariffs choked off 24% of the one supply source America still doesn't have a real substitute for. Canada still supplies 84% of every board of softwood lumber the US imports, at roughly $165/cubic metre — German, Swedish, and Brazilian lumber run $274-307 for the same volume. There is no cheaper backup supplier waiting in the wings. The chief economist at Associated Builders and Contractors told the Wall Street Journal that the four months to April saw construction cost increases that outpaced the previous THREE YEARS combined. Stacked US duties on Canadian softwood have climbed to 45%, on top of a stumpage-fee dispute running back to the Reagan era. PulteGroup confirmed higher wood and metal costs will show up in home prices this year, compounded by diesel prices up ~50% since the Iran war began. Canada's own natural resources minister called the forest sector "the canary in

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