Principal Deputy Attorney General Adam Gustafson of ENRD Gives Remarks at TIMBER Working Group Roundtable

Remarks as prepared for delivery.

Thank you all for attending this important event to share the United States' efforts to combat illegal cross-border trade of timber and wood products. This is a priority of the Trump Administration, vital to our nation's national and economic security and that of our global trading partners.

I want to start by expressing my sincere thanks to the members of the Timber Interdiction Membership Board and Enforcement Resources Working Group - better known as the TIMBER Working Group - for your continued work to combat illegal timber trafficking and for organizing this event.

In addition to DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), the TIMBER Working Group includes the Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Interior, each of which you will hear from today. This team is designed to develop complex timber investigations, eliminate bureaucratic obstacles that hinder them, and serve as a resource to enhance our investigative and prosecutorial capacity as well as that of our foreign partners.

I also thank our non-member interagency partners for being here today and my staff from ENRD for supporting the logistics for this event. It takes a lot of work to organize these events, and it is truly appreciated.

ENRD continues to uphold its long-standing commitment to enforcing the nation's environmental laws and defending the responsible use of her natural resources. Today's event is designed to provide an overview of what the federal government is doing to combat one of the most pervasive and lucrative forms of transnational crime. We also want industry, NGOs, and the public to know who to reach out to with tips, compliance questions, and enforcement ideas.

The United States was the first country to criminalize the transnational trafficking of plants and plant products, including timber, when the Lacey Act was amended in 2008. This amendment came about thanks to universal support from industry, NGOs, civil society, and the government to address what everyone agreed was a problem, even if for different reasons.

Since 2008, we have seen other countries follow the lead of the United States in adopting similar statutory frameworks. This includes Australia, the European Union, Japan, and the United Kingdom among others. However, the United States continues to be the leader in prosecutions of timber trafficking cases.

A key guiding principle of this Administration is to make the United States "stronger, safer, and more prosperous." And that is how ENRD is approaching the problem of timber trafficking.

During his first term, President Trump was the first president to prioritize combatting wildlife trafficking, including both flora and fauna, along with drugs, weapons, and human trafficking.

Just last year, President Trump emphasized that the domestic wood products industry is "essential to the national security, economic strength, and industrial resilience of the United States." (EO 14223, Mar. 1, 2025). Unlawful imports of protected timber species undermine domestic industry and reward law-breaking.

As with many crimes, timber trafficking is all about money. Illegal logging was the third most profitable form of transnational crime with an estimated annual value of $52-157 billion USD. The only more profitable crimes were counterfeiting and drug trafficking. The U.S. Forest Service estimates the U.S. forest products industry loses $500 million USD annually to trafficking through lost export opportunities and depressed wood prices.

The United States is one of the largest producers of timber and wood products. On the flip side, we are also one of the largest consumers of these products. The only way we can end the illegal timber trade is to cut off the demand for illegal wood products. This is done through effective and collaborative enforcement efforts.

Timber trafficking is not a victimless crime. Unlawful profits are funding terrorist organizations and drug cartels, driving government corruption, and undermining law and order.

These crimes also put law-abiding companies at an unfair competitive disadvantage as their competitors cheat and undersell them. In the Quintana case sentenced in 2024, where the husband and wife defendants avoided an estimated $42 million USD in duties for importing unlawful Chinese plywood, it was a competitor complaint that kicked off the investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations. These crimes deprive companies who operate legally of business opportunities and the economic resources to expand their businesses and provide good paying jobs in the United States.

ENRD remains committed to prosecuting these crimes. There are three tangible actions I want to highlight:

First, ENRD has recently posted detail positions for two intelligence analysts within our Environmental Crimes Section that will support timber trafficking investigations as well as other trafficking crimes. We're excited to have dedicated analytical resources for this important work. I want to thank our partners at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative which is funding one of these positions.

Second, ENRD is a member of the DOJ Trade Fraud Task Force announced last year, that will provide access to additional resources. You will hear from Cody Herche the head of the task force today.

And lastly, ENRD has resumed its trade enforcement programming, supported by the State Department, to help our foreign counterparts investigate and prosecute cases where there is a nexus to the tools the United States. In June, we are concluding an initial workshop series in Indonesia that includes government officials and independent forest monitors. We are resuming our programming with Vietnam and India next month. These efforts will provide greater capacity to work together to tackle timber trafficking.

In order to make the United States, "stronger, safer, and more prosperous," this global problem requires a global solution. We rely on the work of the NGOs who support open-source data platforms and publish investigative reports to drive results. This work has also helped educate industry and support their due care efforts. We also value information from industry, including confidential tips, to identify bad actors and bring them to justice.

I hope today's event demonstrates the dedication of DOJ to prosecute these crimes and work with you to ensure the legal trade of timber and wood products. When we get together again in 2028 to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the Lacey Act amendments, I trust we will also celebrate many victories against illegal timber trade and an economy that is "safer, stronger, and more prosperous."