Donald Trump
The Forest Landowners Association praised President Trump for signing his second executive order requiring federal agencies to prioritize the purchase of USA-made goods, including lumber, in federally-financed infrastructure projects. Source: Timberbiz
This new executive order directs the head of each executive department and agency administering a covered program to:
“encourage recipients of new Federal financial assistance awards to use, to the greatest extent practicable … manufactured products produced in the United States in every contract, subcontract, purchase order, or sub‑award that is chargeable against such Federal financial assistance award.”
(c) “Manufactured products” means items and construction materials composed in whole or in part of non-ferrous metals such as aluminum; plastics and polymer-based products such as polyvinyl chloride pipe; aggregates such as concrete; glass, including optical fiber; and lumber.
Since Trump came into office, FLA has been working with the Administration to encourage the inclusion of lumber in any Buy America policy.
The FLA said that it has had several phone calls and meetings directly with key officials in the Administration, including Director of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow.
“As you examine the state of our economy, I encourage you to think about expanding the concept of ‘buy America’ to include the use of US wood products in all federally funded projects including infrastructure projects. The use of US wood will help revitalize rural communities and economies, like those in my home state of Georgia,” stated FLA Foundation President, Joe Hopkins in a letter to White House National Economic Director, Larry Kudlow.
“As US forest landowners and taxpayers, it is the hope of the FLA members that when our government purchases wood products for federally funded projects, that these wood products come from US grown and manufactured wood. The Administration’s commitment to rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure combined with the requirement to use US wood in not only infrastructure projects but all federal projects can serve as a mechanism to revitalize rural communities and establish a platform for sustaining our nation’s forests,” stated the FLA letter to the White House
To provide the White House with an economic analysis of the timber industry, the Forest Landowner Foundation commissioned a national and state-level impact study detailing the economic boost to the wood products value chain, its employees, and the broader economy as result of a Buy America timber policy.
