US senators Marsha Blackburn (Marsha Blackburn) and Angus King (Angus King) are urging the US Trade Representative to fight for the American forestry sector on the world market. In a letter to the United States Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, the senators expressed serious concerns about the potential impact of the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) on the US timber industry, which produces goods worth 350 billion US dollars a year and employs more than 920,000 Americans.

The European Union is due to begin applying the EUDR in 2025, which could adversely restrict the American forest sector's access to the market.

"While we welcome the EU's commitment to reducing deforestation, the EUDR in its current form creates considerable compliance problems because of its strictness and lack of clarity. The traceability requirement is of particular concern. The EUDR sets a requirement for traceability by geographic location, meaning that every consignment of timber products bound for the EU must be traceable to a specific plot of land. 42% of the wood fibre in the US that is used in pulp and paper mills comes from wood chips, logging residues and sawmill production residues – wood sources whose origin cannot be traced to an individual plot of forest land. For a significant part of the US paper and pulp sector, meeting the EUDR traceability requirement will be all but impossible," the senators write.

"As the United States Trade and Industry Department (USTR) continues to work with European regulators, we urge them to seek clarity on the EUDR's traceability requirements, data reporting and country benchmarking. We ask that the USTR encourage the European Union to recognise that the United States has strict regulatory standards in place to safeguard the condition of US forests over the long term."

According to the North American Forest Foundation, more than a billion trees are planted in the US every year, and between 1990 and 2020 the country's total forest area increased by 18 million acres – which converts to an area of 7,284,341.5 hectares.

The letter was signed by a further 24 US senators.