Trade group Tariffs Hurt the Heartland claims the tariffs enacted by President Donald Trump cost U.S. importers a record $6.8 billion in July.

The vast majority were on Chinese goods, though the administration has imposed on other commodities.

Michelle Meyer, an economist with Bank of America, says:

 

“The unpredictable nature of the trade will keep businesses, at best, in wait-and-see mode.”

 

Before the trade war with China began, the organization says the U.S. was shipping $1.47 billion more in hardwoods overseas than American companies were importing.

However, that surplus shrank last year as the U.S. imposed double-digit tariffs on Chinese goods, and Beijing retaliated.

The industry is agricultural but relies on a crop that can take 30 years to mature as opposed to a single growing season.

Members of the Hardwood Federation, a Washington-based trade group representing the $210 billion industry, are eager for a trade agreement, though they believe it will still take considerable time to rebuild the ground they have lost in China.