During a segment on MSNBC Wednesday morning, former show host Chris Matthews had a meltdown over the U.S. ending timber imports from Canada in favor of harvesting timber inside the United States.
Chris Matthews on MSNBC:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 9, 2025
"We get so much of our lumber, our two by fours from from Canada....What are we going to do? Have more lumber made in the United States now?!"
"What is our plan now...? We're going to create more wood. Is that it?!"
"Are we going to make more wood in… pic.twitter.com/cVlvJ6SvEu
Matthews must have missed the memo.
On March 1, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order expanding production of American timber. From the order:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. The production of timber, lumber, paper, bioenergy, and other wood products (timber production) is critical to our Nation’s well-being. Timber production is essential for crucial human activities like construction and energy production. Furthermore, as recent disasters demonstrate, forest management and wildfire risk reduction projects can save American lives and communities.
The United States has an abundance of timber resources that are more than adequate to meet our domestic timber production needs, but heavy-handed Federal policies have prevented full utilization of these resources and made us reliant on foreign producers. Our inability to fully exploit our domestic timber supply has impeded the creation of jobs and prosperity, contributed to wildfire disasters, degraded fish and wildlife habitats, increased the cost of construction and energy, and threatened our economic security. These onerous Federal policies have forced our Nation to rely upon imported lumber, thus exporting jobs and prosperity and compromising our self-reliance. It is vital that we reverse these policies and increase domestic timber production to protect our national and economic security.
Trump gave specific directives to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and others to get the job done.