B.C.’s softwood lumber U.S. tariffs now higher than Russia’s: ‘Let that sink in’

'This additional tariff means that Canadian wood has a higher tariff rate going to the United States than Russia does. I want to let that sink in,' Premier David Eby says.

B.C. Premier David Eby is issuing a stark warning to the federal government as the province’s softwood lumber industry faces additional duties and tariffs from the U.S., which he said has left many forest companies on a “razor’s edge of survival.”

Softwood lumber being exported from B.C. to the U.S. now faces an estimated 45 per cent in extra taxes.

“Today marks the beginning of an additional attack on workers, on communities, on the Canadian forest sector by President Donald Trump, an additional 10 per cent tariff on Canadian forest products,” Eby said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“This additional tariff means that Canadian wood has a higher tariff rate going to the United States than Russia does. I want to let that sink in. That there’s a higher tariff on Canadian wood going to the United States, wood that has built American homes, provided affordable and high quality building materials for families and governments across the United States, our friends south of the border with whom we have worked side by side, fought side by side, that we have worse market access than Russia, an international pariah who has launched a war of aggression on Ukraine.”

Eby said the province is asking Prime Minister Mark Carney to make this issue one of national importance.

“The contributions of the forest sector to the Canadian economy are massive,” he said.

“It provides a greater direct contribution to Canada’s GDP than auto parts and steel. It provides more direct employment across the country than either of those sectors. And so with this additional threat that we are facing from the president, we know that it isn’t just, oh, another thing that Donald Trump is saying. This threat is a direct threat to the livelihood, to the existence of mills in every corner of British Columbia.”

Eby said the softwood lumber industry is facing an existential threat from Trump that is going to hurt American families as well.