Trump Tariffs Hit 98 Canadian Product Lines Despite Lumber Carve-Out

Panels and paper face the full 50 per cent under Monday's Section 338 proclamations despite the lumber carve-out, with unions accusing the White House of economic coercion and Ontario's record fire season sharpening industry fury over the 98-line hit list.

Plywood, fibreboard, particleboard and veneered panels are all expected to absorb the new 50 per cent duty, even as lumber sits outside the proclamations. (Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Images)

Canada’s peak forestry body has counted 98 tariff lines targeting forest products inside Donald Trump’s latest 50 per cent trade salvo, deflating hopes that a White House carve-out for lumber would spare the sector from a trade war now deep into its second year.

“Overall for us, 98 tariff line items were added for forestry, which is a direct assault on our sector and on our workers here in Canada,” Forest Products Association of Canada chief executive Derek Nighbor told The Canadian Press on Wednesday.

That tally cuts across a carve-out written to exclude only goods already under Section 232, the mechanism that spared timber and lumber from Monday’s proclamations. CIBC analysts have told clients that plywood, fibreboard, particleboard and veneered panels will likely be subject to duties, even as lumber stays off the list.

In Ontario, where fires have torn through more than 7,250 square kilometres of forest in the province’s worst season on record, industry leaders say the timing could scarcely be worse.

“If implemented, these sweeping 50 per cent tariffs represent a drastic and unjustified barrier to a highly integrated North American supply chain,” Ontario Forest Industries Association president Ian Dunn said in a statement carried by Northern Ontario Business. “U.S. trade barriers directly undermine our ability to continue actively and sustainably managing Ontario’s forests,” Dunn added. “If the goal is to reduce wildfires, penalising our industry achieves the opposite.”

Dunn said the talk in Washington last spring was all about economic co-operation and cross-border trade stability, warning the punitive measures would “shatter that stability” if enacted.

Standing behind the industry is the 225,000-member United Steelworkers, whose national director Marty Warren accused the President of choosing “confrontation over co-operation” with an already battered workforce.

“These measures have nothing to do with fair trade and everything to do with leverage,” Warren said. “They are another attempt to use economic coercion to force Canada into concessions that serve the interests of the United States.”

Producers already carry a 20.56 per cent antidumping duty and a 14.63 per cent countervailing duty before the Section 232 tariff lifts market entry costs towards 45 per cent. (Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Images)

Producers already pay a 20.56 per cent antidumping duty and a 14.63 per cent countervailing duty on softwood crossing the border, before the 10 per cent Section 232 tariff lifts market entry costs towards 45 per cent. Commerce has moved to cut those duties to a combined 24.83 per cent at the preliminary stage, and its final ruling is due next month.

British Columbia Premier David Eby put the burden even higher at this week’s premiers meeting in Charlottetown, telling reporters he “can’t make sense” of the President’s actions. “I have to talk to forestry families that face a tariff of above 50 per cent because our softwood is a ‘national security risk’ in the United States, while Russian softwood is taking its place,” Eby said.

The White House justified the action by pointing to provincial bans on US alcohol, Canada’s supply-managed dairy system and quotas on American cars, noting Canada was the only country besides China to retaliate against last year’s tariffs. Trump insisted on Tuesday that the duties were separate from his threats over Canadian wildfire smoke drifting south.

CIBC analysts are not so sure, warning the administration “could seek to raise Section 232 tariffs as a negotiating tactic in the future” after the smoke complaints went unmentioned in Monday’s announcement.

For American builders, Nighbor argued, the math is unavoidable. “Tariffs on the very materials used to build homes, renovate properties and support North American construction supply chains will only make housing more expensive for American families,” he said. “These actions will increase costs on our American neighbours, full stop.”

Ottawa has already rolled out forest-sector support measures announced in June, spanning workforce training and programs to lift domestic demand for Canadian wood. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has flagged “similar terms” for forestry producers through the Business Development Bank of Canada, matching a $1.5 billion loan package built for steel, aluminium and copper.

FPAC says it will now work with governments, unions, and American business partners in a Team Canada push for a negotiated solution, with 27 days left before the proclamations take effect at midnight Eastern time on 19 August.

Source: https://woodcentral.com.au/anada-forest-product-tariffs-98-lines/