The Supreme Court ruled that many of Trump’s tariffs were illegal, prompting the president to hit back with new tariffs and to argue for refunds in court. Now, Senate Democrats are hitting back with legislation that would carve the housing supply chain out of the new tariff regime — including large volumes of (non-Canadian) softwood lumber, OSB, and other engineered wood products — and the building value chain, alarmed by cost blowouts, is lining up behind it.
Introduced in Congress last week, Senators Chris Coons (from Delaware) and Jacky Rosen (of Nevada) put forward the Housing Tariff Exclusion Act, which would automatically exclude lumber, OSB, engineered wood products, cement, glass, insulation, plastics, adhesives, and stone products from President Trump’s current and future tariffs.
And for anything not covered by exemptions, the bill would direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish an expedited application process, providing importers a legitimate path to relief when domestic supply simply can’t fill the gap.
After the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariff powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the administration moved quickly to implement a new 10% global import tariff that took effect last week. And that levy landed squarely on construction materials, catching builders, dealers, and developers who had barely had time to process the court ruling.
“President Trump’s tariffs are making it more expensive to build homes in America, and it’s driving up the cost of housing for everyone,” Senator Coons said. “In a housing crisis, this is the last thing we should be doing.”
Senator Rosen was even more direct. “We know that one way to address the affordable housing crisis is by making it easier and cheaper for developers to build more housing — but Trump has done the complete opposite over the past year by imposing cost-raising tariffs on virtually all homebuilding materials,” she said. “The Supreme Court found many of his tariffs illegal, but it’s clear that he’ll use the many other tariff authorities at his disposal to continue imposing them.”
Wood Central understands that if passed, the legislation would apply to all tariffs implemented since January 19, 2025. It deliberately leaves long-standing anti-dumping and countervailing duties alone, meaning the existing AD/CVD orders on Canadian softwood lumber will remain in place.
More than 60% of builders are bleeding
The National Association of Home Builders, which worked directly with Rosen and Coons to shape the bill, didn’t mince words on the scale of the problem. As it stands, 60% of builders have already reported cost increases attributable to tariffs, which are being passed directly to buyers and renters.
Last year, Wood Central reported that NAHB members were budgeting for tariff-driven material cost increases of between US$7,500 and US$10,900 on a typical single-family build, before the latest levy was added. “This bill is an important step forward to create more certainty for American businesses and to address the nation’s housing affordability challenges,” said NAHB Chairman Bill Owens.
And there’s a structural problem that makes the tariff pain worse than it looks.
As it stands, more than 93% of U.S. homes use timber framing, and the country imports roughly 30% of the softwood lumber it consumes, with 85% of that coming from Canada alone.
That’s why NAHB has been warning for months that soaring Canadian lumber duties, now exceeding 35% before the new global tariff, were squeezing builders already battling high material and labour costs. Single-family housing starts fell nearly 7% in 2025 to 943,000, the weakest result since the pandemic recovery.
The lumber and building materials sector is united on this one
The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association, which had direct input into the bill’s scope, put its endorsement on the record immediately. “Lumber and building material dealers operate within a supply chain that depends on stable and predictable trade policy,” said Jonathan M. Paine, President and CEO of the NLBMDA.
“Tariffs on essential construction inputs have been shown to increase costs, create market volatility, and can delay or discourage new housing starts. By establishing a transparent and timely exclusion process for critical homebuilding materials, the Housing Tariff Exclusion Act will help stabilise prices, strengthen supply chains, and support the increased construction activity needed to improve housing affordability nationwide.”
David Dworkin, President and CEO of the National Housing Conference, said the legislation would lower building and preservation costs, reduce supply chain pressures, and ensure trade policy stops worsening the affordability crisis the sector is already trying to dig out from.
Other endorsers include Third Way, Up for Growth Action, Habitat for Humanity, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and the Housing Assistance Council. The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Delaware), Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Maryland), Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico), and Andy Kim (D-New Jersey).
- To learn more about the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Trump’s tariff powers and what it means for construction imports, click here for Wood Central’s special feature. To find out how engineered wood products bound for the U.S. are now caught in the new Section 122 surcharge, click here for Wood Central’s report from last week.
