More than 1,000 US forestry and forest products companies, associations and industry representatives have called on President Donald Trump to seek further changes to the EU Deforestation Regulation in negotiations with European leaders.<\/p>\n
In the letter, the signatories argue that the current EUDR requirements impose unnecessary costs on an American forest supply chain that presents a very low risk of contributing to global deforestation. They want the Trump administration to press the EU for greater recognition of US forest management practices and for the removal or substantial revision of compliance obligations affecting American exporters.<\/p>\n
The initiative extends beyond the hardwood sector. Signatories represent forest owners, logging companies, sawmills, wood product manufacturers, pulp and paper producers and industry associations from across the United States. The campaign was coordinated through the Hardwood Federation, the Washington-based umbrella organisation representing the US hardwood industry.<\/p>\n
Decorative Hardwoods Association was among the organisations supporting the letter.<\/p>\n
Low-risk status does not remove traceability requirements<\/strong><\/p>\n The United States is classified as a low-risk country under the EUDR benchmarking system. This provides access to simplified due diligence, but it does not remove the obligation to collect information on the origin of wood or to provide geolocation data for the plots where it was harvested.<\/p>\n The US industry argues that this distinction does not go far enough. Its main objection concerns the structure of American timber supply, where millions of small private forest owners supply logs and wood residues through a network of loggers, concentration yards, sawmills and processors.<\/p>\n Approximately 90% of the wood fibre used by US forest product manufacturers is sourced from almost 11 million private forest owners. Logs and processing residues can be combined from numerous properties before entering pulp, paper, panel or other manufacturing operations.<\/p>\n Industry organisations say that tracing every component back to an individual forest plot would be costly and, in some production systems, difficult to reconcile with established purchasing and processing practices.<\/p>\n The problem is especially pronounced for chips, sawdust and other sawmill residuals. These materials are routinely combined before being used by pulp mills, panel plants, pellet producers and other industrial consumers. According to the American Forest & Paper Association, residual materials account for approximately 40% of fibre inputs used by US forest product manufacturers.<\/p>\n US industry disputes the underlying risk<\/strong><\/p>\n The signatories maintain that the United States already has an extensive legal and regulatory framework governing forest ownership, harvesting and land use. They also point to long-term forest inventory data showing that US forest growth exceeds removals.<\/p>\n Their position is that applying plot-level traceability requirements to US timber will generate substantial administrative costs without producing a corresponding reduction in deforestation.<\/p>\n The industry wants Washington to make the EUDR part of continuing trade discussions with the European Union. It is asking the Trump administration to seek a system that gives fuller recognition to countries with established forest governance and negligible deforestation rates.<\/p>\n This could include wider acceptance of existing US documentation, legality controls and forest certification, as well as fewer data requirements for wood originating entirely in the United States.<\/p>\n The letter does not simply request another implementation delay. US associations argue that postponement would leave the main traceability and compliance problems unresolved.<\/p>\n European market worth more than \u20ac3 billion to US suppliers<\/strong><\/p>\n The dispute concerns a significant transatlantic trade flow. US forest product exports affected by the EUDR and sent to the European Union are valued at more than \u20ac3 billion annually, according to American industry estimates.<\/p>\n Hardwood lumber, veneer, flooring, white oak staves and other higher-value products are particularly dependent on access to European customers. US hardwood exporters are already operating in a difficult market, following a prolonged decline in domestic consumption, weaker Chinese demand and a reduction in sawmill production.<\/p>\n Additional compliance costs would be particularly difficult for small and medium-sized sawmills, concentration yards and exporters that purchase timber from numerous private owners.<\/p>\n Large integrated companies may be able to build the required data systems, but smaller suppliers could decide that individual European orders no longer justify the cost and administrative work. This could concentrate EU-bound trade among fewer exporters or redirect some US hardwood volumes towards markets with less demanding documentation requirements.<\/p>\n Pressure returns ahead of December deadline<\/strong><\/p>\n The EUDR is scheduled to apply from December 30, 2026, for large and medium-sized operators and for smaller timber companies already covered by the EU Timber Regulation. Other micro and small operators have until June 30, 2027.<\/p>\n The European Commission has introduced several simplification measures, including changes to the information system, product scope and reporting requirements. Low-risk sourcing also reduces the level of risk assessment and mitigation required from operators.<\/p>\n However, the essential obligation to identify where covered commodities were produced remains in place. For wood products, this means that European importers will still require origin and geolocation information from suppliers outside the EU.<\/p>\n It seems that the US forest industry intends to keep the issue within the wider EU-US trade agenda rather than treat EUDR compliance as a purely technical matter.<\/p>\n Among the more than 1,000 signatories are some of the largest organisations representing the US forest products sector, including the American Forest & Paper Association, American Hardwood Export Council, National Hardwood Lumber Association, Hardwood Federation, American Wood Council, American Loggers Council, Decorative Hardwoods Association and National Association of State Foresters. The coalition also includes regional forestry associations, sawmills, logging companies, wood manufacturers and private forest owners from across the United States.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" More than 1,000 US forestry and forest products companies, associations and industry representatives have called on President Donald Trump to seek further changes to the EU Deforestation Regulation in negotiations with European leaders.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n