Ian Dunn

Trump has threatened to impose additional tariffs on top of the duties already in place but so far has not done so. This is because the US relies heavily on Canadian lumber and paper pulp products. Canada supplies 24 per cent of the US’s softwood lumber, which will be hard to replace. Ian Dunn, CEO of the Ontario Forest Industries Association, said it would take five to 10 years for the US to replace the Canadian market share. “They would have to build new capacity, and they would have to build new mills,” said Dunn. “A lot of mills in the US south and pacific northwest, have shut down or curtailed in the last 16 to 18 months.” Canada is also a large source of paper pulp. Canada produces one-third of the world’s northern bleached softwood kraft pulp and 75 per cent of total capacity in North America.