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The Department of Commerce is soliciting public comments on foreign subsidies, including stumpage subsidies, provided to softwood lumber exporters during H2 2025, as required every 180 days under the Softwood Lumber Act of 2008. Findings will inform a mandatory report to Congressional committees and may underpin future CVD actions.
The April 24, 2026 Federal Register notice reflects a routine statutory trigger: Commerce must solicit comment every 180 days under the Softwood Lumber Act of 2008, and this cycle covers the July 1 to December 31, 2025 period. The structural driver is the longstanding US-Canada softwood lumber dispute, which has produced successive CVD orders and periodic review cycles for over four decades. The current administration has maintained existing CVD orders on Canadian lumber, sustaining the institutional appetite for continued monitoring.
The domestic lumber production coalition, anchored by producers in the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast, has consistently pushed for rigorous Section 805 reporting as leverage in CVD proceedings and in bilateral negotiations with Canada. The cross-pressure comes from the National Association of Home Builders and downstream manufacturers, who argue that CVD-driven lumber price increases raise housing construction costs. Congressional committees receiving the mandatory report have historically used it to signal support for domestic producers without committing to specific tariff actions.
Canada is by far the largest affected country given its dominant share of US softwood lumber imports and its status as the primary target of existing US CVD orders; the inclusion of Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand, and Chile reflects the statutory requirement to monitor all exporting countries, though their individual US import volumes are smaller. Any findings of actionable subsidies against Canada would likely trigger WTO dispute proceedings consistent with the longstanding pattern of US-Canada lumber litigation at the WTO and NAFTA/CUSMA panels.