The U.S. South is becoming an increasingly important lumber supplier in North America, bolstered by Canadian companies gaining easy access to forests and the side benefit of escaping U.S. tariffs on softwood. The U.S. Lumber Coalition says punitive tariffs against lumber producers in Canada since 2017 are the reason production has ramped up in the United States. But industry experts in Canada say higher output south of the border has much more to do with the availability of timber supplies than duty rates against Canadian producers. Forestry consultant David Elstone, managing director of Spar ...