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Trump orders lumber import probe, setting stage for tariffs

Published: 02 Mar. 2025, 17:31 Updated: 02 Mar. 2025, 18:11

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

U.S. President Donald Trump signs a document in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Feb. 4. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered an investigation into the impact of lumber imports on the United States’ national security, a move that could lead to new tariffs in addition to the ones imposed on steel and aluminum last month.

The probe will include derivative lumber, or processed wood used in construction, Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro told reporters on Friday, according to the New York Times, mentioning Korean manufacturers that use U.S. materials in goods that are exported to the United States.

He also talked about “disastrous” lumber policies that “impoverish” America through large trade deficits resulting from exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil “dumping lumber” into the U.S. market.

Navarro said the probe is necessary for national security because the military is a major consumer of lumber. The official cited the example of U.S. logs being exported to China and Korea, where the material is used to make “very heavily subsidized things like kitchen cabinets” bought by U.S. consumers.

Derivate lumber products made up around $30 million last year, a relatively small portion of Korean exports to the United States, according to the Korea International Trade Association.

The White House said Saturday that Trump had signed an executive order directing U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to carry out the probe. The president on the same day also signed an order that White House officials said would increase the domestic supply of timber, or unprocessed wood, and lumber to ensure that prices do not rise, which could help reduce construction and housing costs.

The memo for the trade probe was signed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the same law by which Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The U.S. government announced Friday that it would impose tariffs on aluminum wire and cables (AWC) manufactured in Korea, which incorporate materials imported from China, at the same rate as tariffs levied on Chinese AWC. It is the first sanction imposed by the current Trump administration to directly affect Korean companies.

Trump also signed an executive order on Tuesday to investigate whether the foreign production and imports of copper threaten the United States’ economic and national security.

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]