Congressman visits Timber Products, slams Chinese trade issues
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MEDFORD, Ore. – Known for advocating free trade, Oregon Congressman Greg Walden (R-OR), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was welcomed at Timber Products’ hardwood plywood facility in Medford, Oregon, where he toured the company's manufacturing plant.
 
“Greg has been a great advocate in our trade case against Chinese hardwood plywood and our efforts to protect jobs," said Timber Products CEO Joe Gonyea III. "We look forward to our continued cooperation as we fight to secure a level playing field where ‘Free Trade is Fair Trade’.” 
 
“It appears that China may be cheating with its hardwood plywood exports and has overtaken 54 percent of this valuable U.S. market. It’s not right, it’s not fair and it’s costing us U.S. jobs. I look forward to working with the Trump Administration to push back on the Chinese on this trade issue,” said Walden. 
 
The Department of Commerce is currently reviewing anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese hardwood plywood products. Commerce has found preliminary dumping and subsidy levels of 65 percent or more on Chinese imports, and the International Trade Commission has preliminarily found that these dumped and subsidized Chinese imports have injured the U.S. industry. 
 
Since January 20, the Department of Commerce has opened 24 trade enforcement investigations relating to alleged dumping or unfair subsidization of more than $2.3 billion worth of U.S. imports, and has made preliminary or final determinations on 34 antidumping/countervailing duty investigations impacting more than $3.6 billion of dumped or unfairly subsidized domestic imports.
 
Antidumping (AD) and Countervailing Duty (CVD) laws provide U.S. businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the injurious effects of dumped and unfairly subsidized imports into the United States.
 
Timber Products is a member of the Coalition for Fair Trade of Hardwood Plywood, a group of six producers and manufacturers committed to safeguarding the U.S. hardwood plywood industry and its thousands of workers.
 

Founded in 1918, Timber Products offers a wide range of diversified wood products and specializes in hardwood plywood. The company is one of the largest material suppliers to the U.S. kitchen cabinet industry. 

 

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About the author
Robert Dalheim

Robert Dalheim is an editor at the Woodworking Network. Along with publishing online news articles, he writes feature stories for the FDMC print publication. He can be reached at [email protected].