U.S. slaps 20.56% anti-dumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber

The U.S. Commerce Department has determined to hike anti-dumping duties on Canadian softwood to twenty.56 per cent, with B.C. lumber organizations calling them unjustified, punitive and protectionist.

The hiked softwood lumber duties come amid the rising commerce struggle between Canada and the U.S., and symbolize the most recent blow to B.C.’s beleaguered forestry business.

B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar described the long-awaited price hike as a “gut punch” for B.C.’s forestry business which has seen hundreds of staff laid off over the previous few years. 

“U.S. President Donald Trump has made it his mission to destroy Canada’s economy, and there is no sector that has faced more of that than the forestry sector,” he advised CBC News.

“This is a big deal for our workers. This is going to have a significant impact. It will lead to curtailments,” he added.

The B.C. authorities has been urging the federal authorities to prioritize the softwood lumber business in commerce discussions with the U.S., and Parmar stated the hiked duties would additionally affect U.S. householders needing lumber to rebuild or renovate their houses.

“This is going to mean that Americans, in particular middle-class Americans, are going to be paying more to the tune of $15,000 to $20,000 more USD to purchase or to build a home.”

The B.C. Lumber Trade Council says in a press release that if the U.S. division’s pending assessment on countervailing duties is in keeping with its preliminary outcomes, the mixed price towards Canadian softwood shipped to the United States can be effectively over 30 per cent.

In April, the preliminary mixed price on Canadian softwood lumber was reported to be 34.45 per cent, up from the earlier 14.54 per cent. Friday’s choice is a closing willpower, with Parmar saying it will go into impact within the U.S. Federal Register shortly.

U.S. lumber producers have lengthy maintained that Canadian stumpage charges, for harvesting on Crown land, are an unfair authorities subsidy.

B.C.’s Independent Wood Processors Association says in a press release that the U.S. Commerce Department’s choice this week to boost duties additionally features a requirement for Canadian firms to retroactively remit duties for merchandise shipped to the United States since Jan.1, 2023.

Association chair Andy Rielly says in a press release that the requirement to pay duties on merchandise shipped within the final 31 months couldn’t solely pressure small B.C. producers to close down, however can also threaten operators’ private property as they could need to danger utilizing their houses as collateral to safe bonds to pay.

Prime Minister Mark Carney stated earlier this month {that a} future commerce settlement with the United States may embody quotas on softwood lumber, an space that has induced friction between the 2 international locations for years earlier than the most recent commerce struggle. 

Producer urges province to alter circumstances

The United States has lengthy been the one largest marketplace for B.C. lumber exports, representing over half the marketplace for the approximately $10-billion industry.

But amid a sequence of challenges for the province’s forestry business — together with a mountain pine beetle infestation that has killed tons of of hundreds of timber — mills have been closing across the province lately, and main forestry firms are opening up new mills within the United States.

In 2023, numbers from Statistics Canada confirmed B.C. had misplaced greater than 40,000 forest-sector jobs for the reason that early Nineties.

---

Kim Haakstad, the CEO of the B.C. Council of Forest Industries, stated the B.C. authorities ought to work to enhance the manufacturing setting within the province to stop future mill closures.

In a press release, the council stated that by activating timber gross sales, fast-tracking permits and chopping by regulatory gridlock, the province may ship a sign that it’s critical about rebuilding a sustainable forest sector.

Haakstad argued that if the business may get manufacturing ranges again to historic ranges, it may assist maintain forestry-dependent communities vibrant into the longer term.

“That will bring more than $300 million to the provincial government, as well, to help address the deficit situation we’re in,” Haakstad stated.

Kurt Niquidet, the president of the B.C. Lumber Trade Council, highlighted that Trump additionally has initiated a federal investigation into the U.S. imports of lumber and timber citing “national security,” which may additional affect B.C.’s forestry business when mixed with the tariffs.

“Softwood lumber is quite important for the United States. They can only supply about 70 per cent of their softwood lumber demand, and they’re importing 30 per cent from elsewhere,” he advised CBC News.

“25 per cent of that’s really coming from Canada, and British Columbia is the largest softwood lumber producer within Canada.”