Russ Taylor

Canada’s homebuilding outlook was already grim – and the fresh round of US tariffs introduced last week is only complicating that picture further, according to a Vancouver-based wood markets expert, Russ Taylor. Small and medium-sized wood product manufacturers, which produce a significant supply of Canadian homebuilding materials, are facing existential threats from the wave of levies announced by Donald Trump, Taylor said. …The current crisis arrives after years of pain for the forest industry in British Columbia, which could buckle even further from the US making it more difficult to supply buyers across the border. …Homebuilder sentiment, meanwhile, remains low. The Canadian Home Builders’ Association described “bleak conditions” from its first-quarter survey of builders this year, with its multi-family index hitting a record low for the third consecutive time. …Taylor sees the latest escalation in the US-Canada trade war spelling further bad news for the housing and homebuilding outlook on both sides of the border.