Trevor Allard stands in the sawmill鈥檚 observation deck at Allard Lumber with his sales manager, looking down on a dusty expanse of grinding saw blades and conveyor belts.
Allard鈥檚 father co-founded the company, in Brattleboro, Vermont, nearly 50 years ago. It鈥檚 located where Trevor鈥檚 grandfather once farmed the land.
鈥淲ay back, before the highway,鈥� Allard says.
The company manufactures high-grade hardwood boards from the forests of New England and upstate New York. It employs about 50 people, part of an industry that tends to be made up of small, family-run operations, but together employs tens of thousands of people in New England and nearly 700,000 across the country.
And it鈥檚 an industry that鈥檚 been hit hard by President Trump鈥檚 trade war with China.
But unlike some other agricultural sectors affected by escalating tariffs, the hardwood industry has received little to no compensation from the federal government.
As furniture manufacturing moved to China in recent decades, Chinese demand for U.S. lumber ballooned. In the past decade, China became the No. 1 importer of American hardwood.
In 2017, the industry shipped nearly $2 billion of hardwood lumber to China 鈥� an all-time high. 2018 was on track to beat that record handily, until China slapped retaliatory tariffs on U.S. hardwood species like red oak, ash and cherry.
Allard and the sales manager, Jason Aplin, say the process of buying logs, processing them, securing a buyer and then shipping them to China takes months, and almost as soon as the trade war started, the price for lumber began to slip.
鈥淵ou have sawmills that have millions of feet of logs that they鈥檝e already purchased, and they鈥檝e purchased those based on a price of what lumber is selling for,鈥� Aplin says. 鈥淪o when the price of the lumber drops 25%, and you鈥檝e got 4 million logs that you paid money for based on a higher price, you鈥檙e losing money.鈥�
Cersosimo Lumber is located across Brattleboro from Allard. Founded in 1947, the company now has more than 200 employees in Vermont and New Hampshire.
Monica Hastings, Cersosimo鈥檚 sales and marketing manager, says she believes the trade war is 鈥渃atastrophic for this industry.鈥�
She says the uncertainty caused by Trump鈥檚 trade policy has made global prices more volatile 鈥� in some cases plummeting even further than the face value of the tariffs.
鈥淚 thought the recession of 2009 was pretty harsh, but this is harder to strategize a solution for,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e all feeling like puppets on a string.鈥�
Cersosimo sends 90% of its red oak overseas 鈥� the vast majority to China 鈥� and now, Hastings says, they鈥檙e shipping it at a loss.
Trump argues that the back-and-forth over tariffs is necessary, part of a negotiating tactic that will benefit the U.S. economy in the long run.
鈥淐hina has been taking out of this country $500-plus billion a year,鈥� the president said during a speech at the . 鈥淚t鈥檚 time they stop.鈥�
That rationale doesn鈥檛 satisfy Jamey French, president and CEO of Northland Forest Products, with headquarters in Kingston, New Hampshire, and operations in Virginia.
鈥淚 am the first to admit that the Chinese do not play fair and that they have done some things that are very disruptive, long term, to American business,鈥� French says. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 not sure that it鈥檚 fair to put that burden of this trade war on a sector that has struggled as it [has] over time.鈥�
The hardwood industry in the U.S. has been shrinking for decades. But in the wake of the Great Recession, China has been a bright spot. That is, until the trade war. Since Chinese counter-tariffs took effect last September, industry leaders estimate a decrease of more than 40% in exports to China, and a $615 million drop in the total value of lumber exports.
In May, the Trump administration granted U.S. farmers 鈥� including soybeans 鈥� a intended to help make up for losses related to the trade war.
But the hardwood industry has received no such support.
鈥淯nlike the other main row crops,鈥� French says, 鈥渨e have gotten absolutely no support other than comments of, you know, 鈥榯ake one for the team鈥� or, 鈥榳e can鈥檛 help you 鈥� it鈥檚 too complicated,鈥� 鈥榶ou鈥檙e not really an agricultural product.鈥� 鈥�
Jim Hourdequin is CEO and managing director of The Lyme Timber Co., in Hanover, New Hampshire, which acquires and manages millions of acres of forest all over the country. He says 鈥渢he hardwood industry is collateral damage in Trump鈥檚 trade war with China.鈥�
The trade war has had a particularly 鈥渄evastating鈥� impact on sawmills in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, Hourdequin says, with mills cutting hours, and some closing their doors.
鈥淎nd the irony, I mean, as with agricultural commodities, is the hardwood industry in general comes from red states and a lot of the hardwood sawmillers were supporters of Trump, and in some cases willing to take a bloody nose for what some believed was the greater good of getting China to play fair in other industries,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think that what the industry didn鈥檛 realize was how long this trade war would go on for.鈥�
It鈥檚 caught the attention of some lawmakers.
Annie Kuster, a Democrat who represents New Hampshire鈥檚 2nd Congressional District, co-authored a last summer, signed by 12 other Democrats and 25 Republicans, to the USDA, calling for the industry to be included in future farm aid packages from the Trump administration. She says they鈥檝e gotten no response.
鈥淭he farmers, particularly the big farmers in the Midwest, tend to have the ear of the members of Congress and tend to have a lot of media reports about the impact 鈥� particularly Iowa, given the presidential primary,鈥� says Kuster. 鈥淚 wanna make sure that loggers and foresters have that same voice in Washington.鈥�
In a statement, the USDA says the lumber industry has received more than $5 million from the department鈥檚 Agricultural Trade Promotion Program, 鈥渙ne leg of the President鈥檚 Support Package for Farmers. However, lumber trade jurisdictionally falls within the Department of Commerce, and so the Department of Agriculture is not providing additional assistance beyond trade promotion in this sector.鈥�
The Department of Commerce did not respond to request for comment.
Chris Pappas, another Democrat, represents New Hampshire鈥檚 1st District and co-authored the letter with Kuster.
鈥淓ven if there鈥檚 assistance, even if the tariffs are lifted, we鈥檙e going to see a long-term dislocation of these markets,鈥� Pappas says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take a very long time for the industry to recover.鈥�
This post has been updated with a corrected statement from the USDA about which industry received the more than $5 million in trade promotion funds.
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