For generations, Pennsylvania’s hardwood lumber industry has been a pillar of rural communities, fueling local economies and providing thousands of jobs.
But today, sawmills across the state are teetering. The reason? Retaliatory tariffs put in place under President Donald Trump, the very man many in the industry backed with enthusiasm.
Companies like Bingaman & Son Lumber in Snyder County and dozens of others are now raising concerns.
They say their businesses are drowning under the weight of collapsing export markets, razor-thin profit margins, and little to no support from Washington.
“We’re Losing Jobs, Particularly in Pennsylvania”
Jeremy Roupp, director of export sales at Bingaman & Son Lumber, has watched the industry crumble in real time.
“A lot of them are in Pennsylvania, some in other states as well, but a lot of them in Pennsylvania are closing because they can’t continue to sell at losses,” he said.
Roupp said the industry is hanging on by a thread. Where Pennsylvania once produced 15 billion board feet of hardwood in 2008, that number dropped to just 4.5 billion in 2024.
The majority of Pennsylvania’s hardwood is exported, especially to China.
But U.S. hardwood exports have plummeted by $930 million since 2022, and the state’s exporters are now struggling to survive in a market where they often have to sell at no profit, or even at a loss.
“This year we had zero profit margin,” Roupp said. “We only are shipping [to China] what we can’t sell elsewhere.”
Tariffs, Job Losses, and Frustration
Nearly 50% of the hardwood industry has shuttered in recent years, and 60,000 jobs in Pennsylvania alone hang in the balance.
That includes loggers, truck drivers, mill workers, and furniture manufacturers. In rural areas, where family-run sawmills are the backbone of the economy, the collapse has been especially painful.
The Pennsylvania industry was excluded from Trump’s 2018 tariff relief program.
Now, nearly 50 companies and trade organizations across the state are urging his administration to include hardwood producers in any new bailout package, pointing to the $12 billion relief recently approved for farmers.
“It’s a little unfair when they get funds for their crops or something and we don’t get anything from that when we can’t sell our wood overseas or we have lower consumption,” Roupp said.
The Hardwood Federation echoed those concerns in a letter to the administration.
“Without a robust domestic hardwood sector, we risk increasing reliance on foreign materials and losing the skilled workforce and infrastructure that underpin American competitiveness,” said Dana Lee Cole, the group’s executive director.
Kentucky Joins the Call for Relief
The crisis isn’t unique to Pennsylvania. In Kentucky, family-owned sawmills, such as GreenTree Forest Products, are also seeking assistance.
James Wells, co-owner of GreenTree, said his company has already cut production shifts and is oversupplying a weak market.
China’s 25% tariff from 2018 wiped out many major export yards, and now China has also banned uncut log imports, citing pest concerns, a justification Wells questions.
“What pests developed in a week? I don’t know, you can read into that what you want to.”
Like their Pennsylvania peers, Kentucky lumber leaders are asking to be included in any federal aid package.
“The hardwood lumber industry is supposed to be included in agriculture. We always get the shaft,” Wells said.
“Most of our industry is family-owned, private, you know, we just stay to ourselves.”
A Political Dilemma
Perhaps the bitterest pill for Pennsylvania’s lumber industry is that they overwhelmingly backed Trump.
Roupp admits as much: “Our industry backs 90% of these decisions… even though some of them have hurt a lot.”
Despite that loyalty, there’s growing frustration that their concerns are going unanswered while larger industries like farming and auto manufacturing receive direct support.
Industry officials are warning that without swift action, the U.S. risks losing a critical sector that not only supports rural economies but also supplies key raw materials for American manufacturing.
As consumption of high-grade domestic lumber declines and export markets remain constrained, the pressure is only building.
“We need these export markets and we need their economies to be healthy so they can import our product at levels that we can all be profitable at,” Roupp said.
For now, mills are trying to hang on, but many in the industry believe that without a bailout, more closures are inevitable.
And that means more rural jobs gone, more communities hollowed out, and a bigger reliance on foreign lumber down the line.