WASHINGTON – A group of Upstate New York business owners told members of Congress on Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s trade war with China is taking an economic toll that could wipe out the region’s hardwood lumber industry.

The president of Gutchess Lumber, a Cortland lumber mill, spent the day on Capitol Hill with Upstate hardwood companies explaining why their businesses and jobs are at stake if the trade war doesn’t end soon.

Matt Gutchess, the 5th generation of his family to run the business, was among a half-dozen Upstate New York business owners who asked for help from the state’s congressional delegation.

With no end in sight to retaliatory tariffs that have hurt the industry, the group asked members of Congress to push the Trump administration to approve trade assistance payments, similar to what the federal government has given to soybean farmers.

Gutchess led the group into a meeting with his congressman, U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi, D-Utica, who has been sympathetic to the industry’s plight.

Brindisi has asked U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to help the lumber industry cope with Chinese retaliatory tariffs of up to 25% on 10 species of American hardwoods.

In the case of Gutchess Lumber, which exports about 50 percent of its lumber to China, the tariffs have forced the company to cut production at its saw mill.

Salaried workers are now furloughed three days per month, and the work schedule for hourly employees has been cut by 10 hours per week.

The economic impact has rippled across Upstate New York to other businesses dependent on an industry that added $6.4 billion to the state’s economy in 2016 and supported 36,086 jobs, according to the U.S. Hardwood Federation.

Among those who traveled to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to illustrate the impact was Eric Degenfelder, CEO of U-C Coatings, a Buffalo company that makes specialty coatings to protect lumber.

Degenfelder said his company’s sales are down about 22 percent this year, forcing him to make some tough choices.

“I can’t hire people to fill as many open positions as I would like to,” he said.

Craig Dupra, owner of Installers Warehouse, a hardwood flooring distribution company in Rochester, was among those in the group who spent the day meeting seven members of Congress from New York, including Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Dupra sad his business is dependent on companies like Gutchess Lumber supplying them with a local source of northern hardwoods.

“If they go away, we’re in big trouble,” Dupra said. “Anybody with a brain in their heads knows there’s going to be a shortage in the long term.”

Brindisi said he’s optimistic that Trump, aware of the increasing toll the tariffs are taking on the U.S. economy, will strike a deal with China before the end of the year.

“My guess is the president doesn’t want to enter an election year with a recession because of a trade war with China,” Brindisi said.

Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751

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