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Canadian forests minister says U.S. relationship 'changed forever' amid Trump tariffs | N18G

U.S. President Donald Trump has made numerous tariff threats since returning to office on January 20, ranging from a universal duty on imports to targeted tariffs on specific sectors or countries, in a bid to get others to meet his policy demands. Trump on March 1 ordered a new trade investigation that could heap more tariffs on imported lumber, adding to existing duties on Canadian softwood lumber and 25% tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican goods. A White House fact sheet said the order calls for new or updated agency guidance to facilitate increased timber production, including quicker approvals for forestry projects under the Endangered Species Act. "If there's one thing that we've learned from the threat of President Trump's tariffs is our relationship with the United States has changed forever,” Canadian Forests Minister for British Columbia, Ravi Parmar, said in an interview on Wednesday (March 12). Parmar explained that Canada’s market share will decline, and the U.S. supply ‘hasn’t technically increased’, while Russian lumber will now enter the U.S. market with ‘zero penalties’. "This tariff, this tax, is really a tax on middle class Americans. Middle class Americans who just want to build homes in their communities, and middle class Americans who at a time in their dealing with wildfires, floods and hurricanes, are going to have to pay more, in some cases 20 to 30 to 40% more just to build their home or rebuild their home." said Parmar.

first published: Mar 14, 2025 02:05 pm