October 21, 2025

AF&PA Responds to Latest EUDR Proposal

Key Measures Ignore U.S.-EU Trade Commitments

WASHINGTON – American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Heidi Brock released the following statement following today’s EU Commission proposal regarding the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR):

“Today’s U-turn announcement from the EU Commission is detrimental to the transatlantic trade of U.S. pulp and paper products. Although the EU previously acknowledged the United States as a negligible-risk country for deforestation, this latest proposal does not meet the Commission’s commitment to avoid U.S.-EU trade disruption.

The Commission’s action ignores the call for EUDR simplification, and it has reversed its recommendation for a delay.

"The U.S. pulp and paper industry is not linked to global deforestation and forest degradation. Regretfully, the Commission continues to advance a path that does not address EUDR as a non-tariff trade barrier.

“We urge President Trump and his administration to hold the EU to their August 21 commitment.”

Business Impact

International Trade

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) serves to advance public policies that foster economic growth, job creation and global competitiveness for a vital sector that makes the essential paper and packaging products Americans use every day. The U.S. forest products industry employs more than 925,000 people, largely in rural America, and is among the top 10 manufacturing sector employers in 44 states. Our industry accounts for approximately 4.7% of the total U.S. manufacturing GDP, manufacturing more than $435 billion in products annually. AF&PA member companies are significant producers and users of renewable biomass energy and are committed to making sustainable products for a sustainable future through the industry’s decades-long initiative — Better Practices, Better Planet 2030.

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