Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) While Thursday was a stomach churning day on Wall Street, a local builder is weighing in on lumber.
Currently, Canadian lumber is exempt from tariffs that President Trump has imposed on that nation. It's unclear whether the baseline 10% "reciprocal" tariff will be added to lumber on Saturday.
Domenic Cortese, host of Hammertime Radio on WBEN and President of Cortese Construction, describes what is happening now is more of a reaction than reality.
Here in Buffalo, Canadian lumber imports are about 60% of the consumption. Cortese said It's high because of our proximity to the border. Canadian lumber is something that Western New York builders have always taken advantage of.
But it's not a necessity.
"The truth is that the American economy has the ability to sustain its own lumber needs," said Cortese. "I think that's probably going to be the end result here, as we become more self sufficient," he added.
Why are we importing lumber from Canada?
"Like so many other things that we buy, it's cheaper when we buy it from outside our borders. We've been relying on that. But we can sustain our own needs," said Cortese.
He said we would have to amp up production in the U.S. and increase forestation and infrastructure. But he said the capacity is there.
Even if we do all of that, the cost is going to increase.
Cortese noted that his company has a reserve of lumber that they pre-purchased. He expects it to sustain them for the first half of the year or so.
"Otherwise, we're telling customers that there may need to be a price adjustment. We'll probably have to absorb some of it ourselves too,"
he added.