B.C. Premier to meet with Mark Carney over the soaring lumber duties imposed by U.S.

VICTORIA — British Columbia Premier David Eby says he will meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney today to discuss launching a Team Canada approach to support workers in the forestry sector in response to the latest U.S. decision on softwood lumber duties.

The U.S. Department of Commerce said on Friday that it has determined a combined preliminary anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duty rate of 34.45 per cent for Canadian lumber following an administrative review — more double the current 14.54 per cent levy.

Eby says the decision is an attack on forest workers and all B.C. residents, and it will also hurt Americans by driving up housing costs.

He says he will meet with Carney today with plans to raise the issue directly to him since forestry workers and their livelihoods depend on the jobs which are now being targeted by the U.S. tariffs.

Kevin Holland, Ontario’s associate minister of forestry, and Ontario’s Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli, are blaming the U.S. for its plan to “drastically raise” duty rates on softwood lumber, sounding alarms about such measures could strain housing affordability for Americans.

Holland and Fedeli say that the U.S.’s decision left Ontario “deeply disappointed,” and “these unjustified and punitive measures” will drive up construction costs.

The two members from the Ontario cabinet say the province’s forestry sector generated close to $37 billion in revenue in 2022 and supported more than 137,000 jobs, and they stand firm that these duties should be lifted entirely.

Eby says he is hoping to see the same Team Canada approach be implemented soon to protect forestry workers, just like with the automotive and steel industry jobs in Ontario and Quebec.

Ottawa has slapped a 25 per cent tariff on all vehicles imported from the U.S. that are not compliant with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement to match U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on vehicles.