March 2 (UPI) — Amid Donald Trump‘s trade war with Canada, the president signed two executive orders Saturday that call for the expansion of timber production even for projects that might harm endangered species, and a review of how importing lumber might harm “national security.”
“The production of timber, lumber, paper, bioenergy, and other wood products is critical to our nation’s well-being,” Trump wrote in the executive order to expand its production.
“Timber production is essential for crucial human activities like construction and energy production. Furthermore, as recent disasters demonstrate, forest management and wildfire risk reduction projects can save American lives and communities.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, in 2017, the United States imported about 16.1 billion board feet of lumber from all countries, with Canada supplying nearly 91% of these imports — or around 14.65 billion board feet of lumber. More recent data indicates that Canada remains the largest supplier of lumber to the U.S.
Trump asserted that the United States has “an abundance of timber resources” that could bolster the domestic lumber supply chain. But he claimed that federal regulations left Americans to rely on importing lumber from other countries.
The order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to issue new guidance to facilitate increased timber production on federal land administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Forest system to decrease the time it takes to deliver it to customers.
Currently, the Endangered Species Act requires thorough environmental assessments to ensure that activities like logging do not harm protected wildlife and their habitats which can make approval processes for forestry projects take years. While the order could reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks, conservations have warned of the potential ecological effects.
“This executive order sets in motion a chainsaw free-for-all on our federal forests,” Blaine Miller-McFeeley, a representative for the group Earthjustice, said in a statement.
“Americans treasure our forests for all the benefits they provide, such as recreation, clean air, and clean drinking water. But this order ignores these values and opens the door for wild lands to be plundered, for nothing more than corporate gain. In the long run, this will worsen the effects of climate change, while also destroying critical wildlife habitat.”
The second of the executive orders directs Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to investigate whether imports from Canada and other countries compromise national security under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
Factors that Trump wants Lutnick to evaluate include domestic demand, the capacity of U.S. production, the role of foreign supply chains, and the impact of foreign government subsidies and trade practices.
The U.S. maintains vast forest resources and a strong logging industry, raising questions about whether lumber imports truly pose a national security risk.
Unlike energy dependence or reliance on critical minerals, timber is a renewable and widely available resource within North America. Treating imports as a security threat could pave the way for trade restrictions that function more as protectionist measures than responses to genuine vulnerabilities.