TORONTO—Unifor is calling for a large-scale Team Canada approach to support the forestry sector across Canada after the U.S. Department of Commerce’s recent announcement that will more than double the combined duties on Canadian softwood lumber. “We have an opportunity to address two crises with one made-in-Canada plan to build the housing we desperately need with our own mass timber and lumber,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “Unifor is calling on federal and provincial party leaders to commit to an industrial strategy for forestry that will support forestry operations in every province across the country and keep Canadians working.” Unifor represents more than 22,100 forestry workers across 10 provinces who work in sawmills, pulp and paper plants and in wood products manufacturing. …Canada must think big on forestry and use our vast lumber resources to facilitate a national affordable home building strategy.
A coalition representing part of the US lumber industry is firing a shot at BC’s Forests Minister, who has suggested the State-side industry is not willing to engage. “
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump partially reversed course Wednesday on his global trade war following days of market turmoil — but he’s not offering any changes to the tariffs hitting Canada. Trump immediately paused for 90 days the levies on nations slapped with the highest duties under his “reciprocal” tariff regime. A White House official later clarified that a 10 per cent baseline tariff will remain in place for all countries. The president has held fast to his plan to rapidly realign global trade through a benchmark “reciprocal” tariff — but his tariffs have spread chaos throughout global markets. …On social media, Trump said he made the decision after more than 75 countries called his administration “to negotiate a solution.” Later at the White House, the president said he lowered the levies because “people were jumping a little bit out of line.” “They were getting yippy, you know,” Trump said. “They were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid.”
American consumers could be paying more to build new homes after the U.S. announced it will more than double existing duties on Canadian softwood lumber. “In the end, the U.S. consumer ends up paying additional money,” Supply-Build Canada president said on Tuesday. “It is an extra cost that is being passed on to the U.S. consumer and that’s not an ideal situation when you are looking for housing affordability.” Claiming that the Canadian lumber industry is unfairly subsidized, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Friday that it planned to hike duties on Canadian softwood lumber from 
BURNABY, BC – The United Steelworkers union (USW) District 3 and the USW Wood Council locals in BC applaud the approach of Premier Eby in fighting for workers and federal government supports in light of the announcement by the US Department of Commerce that will increase the current tariff and countervailing duty average to 34.45% from 14%. “The continual application of tariffs and duties by the US on our USW membership in Canada is wrong and unwarranted,” said USW District 3 Director Scott Lunny. “Premier’s Eby’s approach in pressing the federal government in Ottawa for worker supports is key.” …“The Trump administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce continue to be subjected to the influence of the US Softwood Lumber Coalition, wrongfully claiming the Canadian industry is subsidized,” said Jeff Bromley, USW Wood Council Chair. …“It’s protectionism, pure and simple,” added Bromley.
Canadian National train service employees represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference will get a 3% annual raise under an arbitrator’s contract decision. Arbitrator William Kaplan released his decision Monday on the three-year contract, which runs from Jan. 1, 2024, through Dec. 31, 2026. When CN and the TCRC were unable to reach a negotiated settlement during their contract talks, the Canada Industrial Relations Board sent the matter to binding arbitration in August 2024 after a brief lockout. Kaplan urged the railway and union to iron out their differences regarding changes to work rules. “Both parties proposed detailed changes to work rules. And both parties described the proposals they sought as justified by demonstrated need, and the ones advanced by the other party as breakthroughs that would never be accepted in free collective bargaining,” Kaplan wrote.
Premier David Eby cautioned last week that BC should not make too much of the appearance that the country “dodged a bullet” in the latest round of tariff fire from the US. …Eby’s fears were borne out, when the US announced a plan to more than double the duty against Canadian softwood. …Eby told the legislature that Forests Ministry staff are “working on a proposal to defer stumpage.” The tariff threat likely means a setback for the ambitious goal that Eby set for the forest minister, Ravi Parmar. He directed Parmar to “work toward…a harvest of 45 million cubic metres per year”. The increase would be 50 per cent greater than last year’s 30 million cubic metres harvest, but still well short of the almost 60 million harvested the year the New Democrats took office. …Though the industry welcomed the premier’s target for increasing the harvest, it remains privately skeptical that the NDP can make the necessary changes in regulation and permitting to bring about the increase.
By raising duties on Canadian lumber, the United States is contending that the producers benefit from unfair subsidies and sell products below market value. However, British Columbia Premier David Eby called it an “attack on forest workers and British Columbians” on April 5. …Harry Nelson, an associate professor of forestry at the University of British Columbia, said the increase stems from Washington’s annual review of its trade remedy findings. “The main reason for the significant increase is that both rates went up, the antidumping especially so.” …Nelson said some companies such as Canfor face a nearly 50 percent tariff and could be unsustainable. “Lumber margins tend to be small — certainly not 50 percent, and it is hard to imagine how Canfor will be able to continue to operate,” he said. “I would expect a curtailment in production, where higher-cost firms may either take temporary downtime or permanently shutter some more mills.”
When forestry contractor Mike Egli heard the sawmill in Vanderhoof was closing, he was expecting the worst. Egli co-owns logging contractor Dalchako Transport with his brothers. As with many local forestry companies, Dalchako’s livelihood was tied to the Plateau sawmill, Vanderhoof’s largest employer. With more than 200 workers, the sawmill was integral to the local economy. It closed at the end of December 2024. Egli has found other contracts to keep working since December, but the mill’s closure has caused a massive upheaval. “We lost all that work there,” he said. …Meanwhile, workers in Vanderhoof are looking to other industries to make a living. It’s a shift many northern B.C. workers have had to make before. …Not all workers are leaving the industry. Mayor Moutray said local forestry contractors are commuting 200 kilometres to Quesnel, B.C., for work, or flying into remote work camps to stay in forestry.
AUDIO STORY: John Brink, CEO of Brink Forest Products, talks to host Gloria Macarenko about the economic potential for value-added wood products in B.C. and the impact of higher duties and tariffs from the U.S.
As tariffs reshape supply chains, more Americans may be checking packaging for the “Made in USA” label, either to sidestep import taxes or to support domestic businesses. …According to the Federal Trade Commission, to qualify for the label, US authorities must determine that a product’s final assembly or processing has taken place in the US, and that a significant portion of its manufacturing costs must also be incurred domestically. …That said, some foreign components are allowed to still qualify as “Made in USA.” — as long as they don’t substantially transform the product. …However, bilateral trade agreements can override these rules. Under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a one-time importation of a commercial product valued under $2,500 is exempt from country of origin labeling requirements.
The United States has announced sweeping changes to encourage more logging in the country’s national forests. A new emergency order requires rolling back environmental protections on national forests… A big question for forestry economists is whether the U.S. is in need of significantly larger lumber production. …The forest products industry will only begin quickly cutting and milling more U.S. timber if there is demand, Jeff Reimer, an economics professor at Oregon State University said. Much of the lumber needs in the eastern part of the U.S. are met by private forests he said, that won’t be impacted by the new Forest Service requirements. But lumber in the west is almost all from Canada. …”Loggers and mills need to have …assurance that they can sell their products at a profit,” Reimer said. “If we see high inventories of unsold housing and low (weak) housing starts, then the demand for lumber is probably low.”
Tariffs could impact efforts to rebuild a former paper mill in Jay that was destroyed in an explosion almost five years ago. Godfrey Wood Products is looking to build a new factory on the property that would manufacture oriented strand board, a type of structural wood paneling. The company says that they have all of the permits they need, but they haven’t been able to move forward with construction because of uncertainty with tariffs. A lot of the equipment they need would come from Europe. “The stated goal of all of this tariff business is to, incentivize domestic manufacturing. Well, hell, I’m trying my level best to become a domestic manufacturer of OSB in Jay, Maine, and it seems like the public policy of the country is trying to thwart that,” said John Godfrey, owner of Godfrey Wood Products.
