JUST IN: Canada Exposes the Flaw in Trump’s Lumber Tariffs — The U.S. Still Can’t Replace Canadian Wood.
The Tariff Trap: How Canada’s Global Pivot on Lumber Exposed the Hollow Core of Trump’s Trade Policy
The warning was clear, but the political allure was irresistible. When the Trump administration re-imposed punishing tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber—a perennial feature of the bilateral trade landscape—the pitch was simple: protect American mills, bring jobs home, and force a capitulation from Ottawa. The reality, unfolding in real-time across American construction sites and housing markets, is a stark lesson in 21st-century economics. Canada didn’t capitulate; it pivoted globally. And the United States, unable to replace the volume or quality of the wood it walled off, is now left solely with the bill—a bill being paid by its own homebuilders and prospective homeowners.
The mechanism of the failure is a case study in miscalculation. As tariffs of up to 20% slapped a premium on Canadian lumber headed south, the reaction from the Canadian industry was not a panicked retreat but a strategic redirection, years in the making. Executives in British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario accelerated long-planned diversification.
“The U.S. market is important, but it is not the only market,” stated Alistair Crowe, CEO of a major British Columbia timber cooperative. “When the tariff signal came, we simply flipped the switch on contracts and logistics we had been preparing for half a decade. The wood that would have gone to Georgia or North Carolina last month was loaded in Prince Rupert bound for Japan, or through the Panama Canal to Belgium.”
The data is stark. Canadian lumber exports to the U.S. have plummeted by nearly 40% in key categories since the tariffs’ peak implementation. Meanwhile, exports to China and Japan are up 25%, and a new surge of shipments is landing in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, where post-pandemic construction booms are hungry for high-grade framing lumber. The supply that vanished from the U.S. market did not sit in Canadian yards; it found new buyers, almost overnight.
The impact on the American economy has been immediate, severe, and inflationary. Domestic U.S. mills, despite political promises, have been physically incapable of ramping up production to meet the shortfall. The constraints are fundamental: limited timber harvest rights on public lands, a shortage of milling capacity, and the simple biological timeline of growing trees.
“You cannot magic a 2×4 into existence,” explains Dr. Evelyn Shaw, a resource economist at the University of Oregon. “The U.S. housing industry has been structurally dependent on Canadian lumber for decades to meet demand. Sever that artery without a ready alternative, and the patient—the American homebuilder—goes into shock.”
The shock is financial. Lumber prices have soared by over 60% since the tariffs were fully enforced, adding an estimated $20,000 to the cost of a typical new single-family home. Construction timelines are stretching as builders wait for materials, labor costs inflate with delays, and the dream of homeownership recedes further for a generation already grappling with a historic affordability crisis. The National Association of Home Builders has issued blistering statements, blaming the policy for “self-inflicted wounds that hurt American families to benefit a handful of corporate lumber interests.”
The episode exposes several hard truths for Washington. First, global markets move faster than tariff walls. Capital and commodities are agile; they flow to the highest bidder and the path of least resistance. A tariff is not a wall, but a detour sign, and Canada had already built the new highways.
'Guilty Of Fraud' - Hammer Dropped On Former First Lady Jill Biden During Live Fox News Segment
McEnany Accuses Jill Biden Of Misleading Americans About Debate Performance
Posted July 15, 2026
Former White House press secretary and Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany accused former first lady Jill Biden of misleading the American public about President Joe Biden’s condition following his widely criticized debate performance during the 2024 campaign.
McEnany made the remarks Thursday during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” where she reacted to comments Jill Biden reportedly made in her upcoming book regarding the president’s performance during the debate that ultimately intensified questions about his age and fitness for office.
The discussion began when co-host Dana Perino referenced remarks Jill Biden made immediately following the debate.
At a campaign event after the debate, Jill Biden praised her husband’s performance.
“Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question,” she said at the time.
Perino contrasted those comments with more recent claims attributed to Jill Biden and raised questions about the apparent inconsistency.
“So now we know that this is what she’s saying in her book,” Perino said. “And the question I would love to ask her is where are you lying then or now?”
McEnany responded by arguing that Jill Biden’s reaction following the debate was inconsistent with her more recent descriptions of the event.
“It’s a great question,” McEnany said.
“That is not the reaction of someone who believes they just watched their husband have a stroke. It is an absolute lie.”
McEnany then accused the former first lady of concealing concerns about the president’s condition from voters.
“It was fraud,” she said.
“What she did fraud on the American public and she’s continuing it by saying she had never seen him like that before or after.”
The debate between Biden and President Donald Trump became a turning point in the 2024 election cycle, with many Democrats publicly expressing concern about Biden’s performance and his ability to continue his campaign.
Questions about Biden’s age and mental sharpness had circulated for years, but the debate intensified those concerns and fueled calls from some Democrats for him to step aside.
During the Fox News discussion, McEnany referenced comments previously made by veteran journalist Carl Bernstein regarding Biden’s condition behind the scenes.
“Dana, you all remember Carl Bernstein, who said he talked to people who knew Joe Biden, loved Joe Biden, supported Joe Biden, and they were adamant that what we saw was not a one-off,” McEnany said.
According to McEnany, Bernstein reported that individuals close to Biden had observed similar episodes before the debate.
“They said it had happened 15 or 20 times prior, him losing his train of thought,” she said.
McEnany also cited a fundraiser Bernstein reportedly described.
“He described a fundraiser where he froze up and seemed to have some type of rigor mortis,” she said.
“This is not something that was a one-off.”
McEnany argued that concerns about Biden’s condition were widely known among those close to him.
“This was well known,” she said.
She then questioned why Jill Biden continued publicly defending her husband following the debate.
“So why did she keep up with the fraud on the American people?” McEnany asked.
The former first lady has repeatedly defended her husband and rejected claims that she or members of his inner circle concealed concerns about his health, Breitbart News reported.
The debate over Biden’s condition became one of the defining political stories of the 2024 election cycle and continued after he ultimately left the race.
McEnany’s comments reflect ongoing scrutiny surrounding what Biden’s family, advisers and top Democratic officials knew about his condition and when they knew it.
Neither Jill Biden nor representatives for the former president immediately responded to McEnany’s latest remarks.
As new books and accounts from those involved continue to emerge, questions surrounding Biden’s final campaign and the decisions made by those closest to him remain a major topic of political debate.
