Blackburn-led group seeks fair treatment of U.S. paper, pulp industry under EU regs

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and 26 other senators are concerned that the European Union Deforestation-free Regulation (EUDR) could negatively impact the American forest products industry and they want to ensure that U.S. paper and pulp producers are treated fairly under the EU regulations. 

The EUDR, which becomes enforceable in 2025, could hit U.S. producers with costly requirements on U.S. exporters that will limit market access for the $3.5 billion in U.S. forest-derived products entering the European Union (EU) annually, wrote the lawmakers in a March 8 letter sent to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai.

They urged the USTR to continue to engage with EU member states, the European Commission, and the World Trade Organization to ensure fair treatment of the U.S. forest products industry, which collectively manufactures $350 billion worth of products a year and employs more than 920,000 people.

“While we applaud the EU’s commitment towards reducing deforestation, the EUDR, as currently written, presents significant compliance issues due to its stringency and ambiguity,” wrote Sen. Blackburn and the bipartisan contingent of senators.

For instance, a EUDR-imposed geolocation traceability requirement is concerning because it mandates sourcing to the individual plot of land for every shipment of timber product to the EU. In America, 42 percent of the wood fiber used by pulp and paper mills comes from wood chips, forest residuals, and sawmill manufacturing residues — wood sources that cannot be traced back to an individual forest plot, the senators noted.

“The EUDR traceability requirement will be nearly impossible for a significant segment of the U.S. paper and pulp industry to comply with,” they added.

Sen. Blackburn led the bipartisan letter, which also included signatures from U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

“As USTR continues to engage with European regulators, we urge the agency to seek clarity on the EUDR’s traceability requirements, data reporting, and country benchmarking,” they wrote, adding that the USTR encourage the EU to recognize that the United States has robust regulatory standards to protect the long-term health of U.S. forests. 

“This will help American paper and pulp producers achieve compliance under these new standards and ensure that the United States and the European Union can maintain its mutually beneficial trade relationship in paper and pulp products,” wrote the senators.