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I dont think it is wooly aphids. If you zoom in on the picture it almost looks like chemical residue. It could be powdery mildew. What do the leaves look like?
Did you have it in one of those smaller white tree tube wraps? or paper wrap... thats what mine often looked like when I would check on them in the spring - before I stopped using bark wrap and white corrugated tight trunk protectors . I still have a few out on trees, their all coming off this year. They just hold to much moisture and don't breath enough to prevent mold.
There is better advice givers here, but if you change out the tube for aluminum window screen it will be just fine, removing the tube removed the problem (trapped moisture), the air will keep it dry, the mold wont survive in a drier exposed environment... many paint the south facing sides of the exposed trunks with a watered down white latex, prevents frost popping of the bark that the tubing also was preventing . Im guessing venting the tube would work also if you wanted to keep the tube...
I wouldn't leave the trunk unprotected its just mice and rabbit candy without some protection