Consolidated Statements of Operations - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Income Statement [Abstract]
Net sales	$ 3,017	$ 2,913	$ 2,904
Cost of products sold	2,312	2,263	2,279
Gross profit	705	650	625
Selling and administrative expenses	304	302	323
Litigation settlement charge	0	0	48
Long-lived asset impairment charges	10	0	90
(Recovery) loss on receivable and contract termination charge	(3)	(6)	15
Gain on disposal of shipping operations, net	0	(1)	0
Operating profit	394	355	149
Income from equity method investments	49	48	33
Interest expense	(145)	(163)	(179)
Interest income	4	2	1
Income and gain from the sale of equity method investment to related party	0	13	2
Gain on deconsolidation of subsidiaries and consolidated joint ventures	0	0	27
Loss on extinguishment of debt	(37)	(19)	0
Other income, net	9	0	0
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	274	236	33
Income tax (expense) benefit	(63)	740	(7)
Income from continuing operations	211	976	26
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax	20	15	12
Gain on sale of discontinued operations, net of tax	279	0	0
Net income	510	991	38
Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest	0	0	1
Net income attributable to USG	$ 510	$ 991	$ 37
Basic earnings per average common share:
Income from continuing operations (in dollars per share)	$ 1.45	$ 6.70	$ 0.18
Loss from discontinued operations (in dollars per share)	2.04	0.11	0.08
Net income (in dollars per share)	3.49	6.81	0.26
Diluted earnings per average common share:
Income from continuing operations (in dollars per share)	1.44	6.62	0.17
Loss from discontinued operations (in dollars per share)	2.02	0.11	0.08
Net income (in dollars per share)	$ 3.46	$ 6.73	$ 0.25
Average common shares (in shares)	145,929,506	145,457,208	141,722,616
Average diluted common shares (in shares)	147,660,979	147,246,600	144,296,316