On October 14, 10 percent tariffs will be imposed on wood products imported into the United States, according to the White House. The surcharge is lower than expected and is unlikely to significantly affect Swedish exports over time \u2013 but it is a worrying step back from a globally functioning free trade, says Christian Nielsen, market analyst at the Swedish Forest Industries Federation.<\/p>\n
The new tariffs apply to all imports of lumber into the United States and are added on top of existing tariffs where no exemptions have been negotiated. For Swedish and European sawmills, the tariffs on lumber will be lower than the previously announced cap of 15 percent. For Canada, however, 10 percent will be added to the existing punitive tariffs, which will be increased to between 40 and 60 percent.<\/p>\n
''In the near future, this could mean that the already hard-pressed Swedish sawmill industry will be put under even more pressure. Not least considering that there is only two weeks' notice and goods are already contracted and in transit. Over time, we expect the tariffs to hit the American consumer, who will have to pay a higher price for their wood products. Higher prices also drive inflation,'' says Christian Nielsen.<\/p>\n
Affects the global trade balance<\/strong><\/p>\n The US accounts for 5-10 percent of the Swedish forest industry's exports. But as the world's largest wood products market, the country plays a crucial role in the global balance and influences trade flows throughout the sector. The US currently imports around 30 percent of its timber needs, of which 25 percentage points come from Canada and the majority of the remaining percentage comes from the EU, primarily Germany and Sweden.<\/p>\n The US aim with the tariffs is to increase domestic production, as the import-dependent wood products sector is seen as a security risk. During the time the issue has been investigated, wood products have been exempted from US tariffs, which has created great uncertainty about future conditions.<\/p>\n ''For an export-dependent forest nation like Sweden, new tariffs on wood products are of course not favorable, but at the moment it is still positive that companies are informed about what applies. The new tariffs will probably contribute to increasing American production somewhat, but it will take a long time to expand capacity and we expect the USA to be significantly dependent on imports for the foreseeable future. At the same time, it will probably not be as strong a growth market as we previously expected,'' says Christian Nielsen.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[3309,3328,5834],"class_list":["post-97014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news","tag-exports","tag-sweden","tag-u-s-tariffs","topic-forestry","topic-lumber","topic-sawmilling","topic-wood-construction","topic-wood-products","area-europe","area-global","area-north-america"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n