We find ourselves once again compelled to address the US Lumber Coalition‘s (USLC) inaccurate commentary about the Canadian softwood lumber trade with the US in their March 24 release, “Canadian Imports Are Being Replaced by US Production – A Direct Result of US Trade Law Enforcement & Section 232 Tariff”. …Since October 2025, combined US duties and tariffs, averaging 45.16%, during flat periods of US demand coupled with low prices has meant that Canadian mills cannot compete until prices move higher. Consequently, it was inevitable that the highest cost producing regions in Canada would reduce shipments to the US. The USLC is endorsing these trade penalties which are essentially a subsidy for US sawmills. …Market share decline since 2016 is not just a result of duties and tariffs. …BC is the main reason for reduced Canadian lumber exports to the US. With very high domestic log costs, BC has had the lowest sawmilling margins in North America since 2017, as such, it is difficult to accept the USLC claim that BC has “unfair prices… and dumps lumber in the US.”

…Canadian lumber production has always exceeded its consumption through much of the country’s modern history – Canada has a relatively small population and a vast forest resource. …The reality is that over the last 50 years, US lumber producers been not able to fully supply the US market demand. The huge gap between US production and consumption has ranged from a low of 12.0 billion board feet in 1990 to a high of 23.6 billion board feet in 2005 and was 12.7 billion board feet in 2025. The United States has benefited from a close trading relationship with Canada, especially through consistent access to economical and reliable lumber supplies. …That gap between US consumption and domestic supply exists today because US sawmills are operating close to full production – there is no “surplus production” without more logs, more workers, more capital – which are mostly domestic issues to effect any real change in production.