It never fails to amaze me how simple stumbling blocks seem to pop up at the worst possible moments on the road to recovery. How many more stumbling blocks can the offsite industry take?
We all knew it could happen but when it actually does, that’s when we just sit there and take it on the chin…again.
The Biden administration’s Commerce Dept. on Nov. 24 followed through with expected anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber producers, placing duties of 17.99% on their imports, more than twice the old rate of 8.99% from the Trump administration.
“These unjustified duties harm Canadian communities, businesses, and workers,” said Mary Ng, Canada’s minister of international trade, in a sharply worded statement. “They are also a tax on U.S. consumers, raising the costs of housing, renovations, and rentals at a time when housing affordability is already a significant concern for many.”
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In May, Commerce said it planned to hike the rate to 18.32% but the agency decided to ratchet down that plan after further study over the summer. Nevertheless, the department more than doubled the base levy on Canadian producers. While the homebuilder customers that Ng mentioned will likely be the hardest hit, contractors building commercial and other building types also expect to see higher prices due to the higher tariff rates.
“While lumber is much more important to single-family construction than multifamily, it is a significant cost element for many projects, such as remodeling projects and decks or other additions to restaurants,” said Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America. “A doubling of this tariff will only prolong the extreme price increases that have hit lumber repeatedly over the past 18 months.”
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Gary Fleisher is Editor-in-Chief of Modular Home Source. Email at [email protected] Advertise on offsite’s construction leading blog…Click Here
