www.archpaper.com: The Trump administration’s tariffs on Canadian plywood and laminated veneer lumber went into effect on August 22. Softwood lumber was excluded from the tariff because it is already subject to Section 232 measures under the protectionist Tariff Act of 1930, which regulates trade between the U.S. and its neighboring countries.
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The increase in tariffs on products necessary for the survival of our industry is not only concerning in regards to foreign policy, but also concerning in regards to the financial viability of production. Already, theatre rarely breaks even, turning a profit being laughable. As inflation already spikes the prices of most materials, and lumber in the quantities needed being painfully expensive, additional costs, I believe, will force designers to rethink the quantities of lumber used in their designs. If these tariffs remain in place for a significant period of time, I predict it will lead to an industry shift towards less structural, flat based, sets, instead encouraging use of metal if structural stability is needed, and fabric if it is not. I also predict that this could lead to an overall trend of less realistic sets becoming more popular, as a less realistic set is much simpler to fabricate without the use of much lumber.
In situations like this, I am always interested in how the butterfly effect works out. When the price of plywood goes up, houses get more expensive to make, meaning they get sold at a higher price, which causes less people to buy houses because they aren't affordable. Looking deeper into some of the other articles linked from this one, I found it really interesting what Jessica Walker said. She states at the end of her statement made on the 22nd, "Manhattan's businesses need predictability, not escalation." I had not considered how the speed at which prices are fluctuating would affect different industries. Previously, it has been possible to have a rough estimate of how prices would change over time. However, with the tariff war going on, I imagine that long-term planning has been made much more difficult for large companies. I also found it really interesting how specific some of the tariffed items were. I particularly liked how the list posted by BC wood specified that French doors were not being tariffed.
I found this article especially interesting from the perspective of theatre designers and fabricators because material costs can have a direct impact on what designers and production teams are able to create. Plywood and other wood products are used constantly in scenic construction (building platforms and flats to creating furniture and larger structural elements). If tariffs increase the cost of these materials, theatres may have to reconsider budgets, reuse more existing scenery, or find alternative materials. The article also points out that uncertainty makes it difficult for designers, developers, and firms alike to confidently plan future projects, and I think a similar issue could affect theatrical production planning. Scenic designers often have ambitious ideas, but those ideas must ultimately work within practical limitations like budgets and material availability. This shows how larger political and economic decisions can unexpectedly influence the creative process and the physical designs audiences eventually see onstage. In addition to these physical constraints, these limitations tend to bring up conversations of projections and substitutions for virtual scenery.
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