WASHINGTON — President Trump is taking a blowtorch to the rules that have governed world trade for decades. The “reciprocal’’ tariffs that he announced Thursday are likely to create chaos for global businesses and conflict with America’s allies and adversaries alike. Since the 1960s, tariffs — or import taxes — have emerged from negotiations between dozens of countries. Trump wants to seize the process. “Obviously, it disrupts the way that things have been done for a very long time,’’ said Richard Mojica, a trade attorney at Miller & Chevalier. “Trump is throwing that out the window … Clearly this is ripping up trade. There are going to have to be adjustments all over the place.’’ Pointing to America’s massive and persistent trade deficits – not since 1975 has the U.S. sold the rest of the world more than it’s bought — Trump charges that the playing field is tilted against U.S. companies. …Economists don’t share Trump’s enthusiasm for tariffs.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Western Forest Products Inc. and Eastwood Forests, LLC announced today that Western has completed the sale of approximately 14,500 hectares of fee simple land on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, to a Canadian affiliate of the Eastwood Climate Smart Forestry Fund I LP for $69.2 million. “Eastwood has a dedicated focus on delivering climate benefits by supporting responsible forest management globally and we believe they will be excellent stewards of this land and partners in the region,” said Steven Hofer, President and CEO of Western. “The sale reflects our ongoing focus on optimizing and investing in our BC operations. We plan to use the sale proceeds to reduce our debt and support our accelerated transition to higher value products manufacturing, including the previously announced continuous kiln investments in BC.” “This forestland fits perfectly with Eastwood’s interest and experience in sustainable forest management and climate change mitigation,” said Alex Finkral, CEO of Eastwood. 
British Columbia’s lumber industry is facing uncertainty, as looming tariffs threaten the sector. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, businesses don’t like that because you can’t make investment plans,” said Nick Arkle, CEO of Gorman Bros. Lumber. …“About 60 per cent of our lumber in B.C. for the last couple of years has been going to the U.S., which in a way is funny because we have the president saying ‘We don’t need their trees.’ Well, that’s false,” BC Forest Minister, Ravi Parmar said. Gorman Bros. Lumber in West Kelowna sends about 50 per cent per cent of its product to the States, while about 30 per cent stays in Canada. “The U.S is a strong market, you never want to walk away from a market, where first of all you have loyal friends, partners, and customers, people we’ve sold to for 30 to 40 years in some cases,” Arkle said.
The largest creditor of the San Group wants to take control of some other Vancouver Island businesses connected to the former sawmill company. Kingsley Group operates in Coombs, and court documents show that it has some close ties to the San Group. The Royal Bank of Canada, which is owed $6.7 million from the Kingsley Group, wants to recall its loan and secure the company’s assets. The bank is owed more than $107 million from the San Group. It comes as the San Group’s Alberni Valley mills remain for sale as a court-appointed-monitor tries to drum up interest. …Kamal Sanghara and Sukhjit Sangara are directors with a 32.5 per cent stake each in Kingsley Group, and both are former owners of the group. …CHEK News spoke with Sukhijit Sanghera, a former owner of San Group at Kingsley, and asked if the San Group moved money to Kingsley Trucking and other places to hide assets or prop up Kingsley’s business.
The minister responsible for forestry and local MLA Ravi Parmar said a new council on softwood lumber will bring industry expertise together to help navigate the economic concerns with U.S. duties, and any potential tariffs that could be coming Canada’s way. While many people across the country have let out a sigh of relief about the pause on U.S. tariffs, Parmar said those in the forestry industry are still feeling the economic threat loom. “We’re already dealing with duties to the tune of 14.4 per cent. With tariffs on top of that—we could be dealing with 50 to 55 per cent duties and tariffs on our softwood lumber going into the United States,” he said, adding how that scenario would be devastating. …However, Parmar acknowledged the softwood lumber dispute with the U.S. has been a long-time problem, adding that his task of getting the industry back on its feet is made difficult by the duties.
U.S. President Donald Trump in an all-caps post on Truth Social Thursday teased a new round of sweeping reciprocal tariffs, matching the higher rates other nations charge to import American goods. …Reciprocal tariffs were one of Trump’s core campaign pledges — his method for evening the score with foreign nations that place taxes on American goods and to solve what he has said are unfair trade practices. …He is set to share more details on the tariffs ahead of his visit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday. …The tariffs are likely to hit developing countries hardest, especially India, Brazil, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian and African countries, given that they have some of the widest differences in tariff rates charged on U.S. goods brought into their countries compared to what the U.S. charges them.
Reciprocal tariffs are straightforward in theory: The U.S. would pose the same levies on imported goods from a given country that the other country imposes on their U.S. imports. But it gets far murkier in practice, as countries often charge different tariffs on different classes of goods. Goldman Sachs economists outlined three approaches Trump could take. “Country-level reciprocity” is the “simplest” strategy which would have the U.S. impose the same average tariffs. “Product-level reciprocity by country” would have the U.S. place marching tariffs on a good-by-good basis by trading partner.” Reciprocity including non-tariff barriers” is the “most difficult” approach as it would encompass a complicated web of inputs including inspection fees and value-added taxes. …4.8% is the U.S.’ weighted average tariff rate if Trump implemented the country-level strategy. …Goods from the 20 countries the U.S. has free trade agreements with, including Australia, Canada, Mexico and Panama, won’t be affected – though Trump has targeted several of those countries in recent weeks.
