., Fredericton, Halifax, Moncton, New Brunswick, News, Nova Scotia, Saint John 0
It comes after the U.S. Commerce Department announced tariffs for most producers would increase to 17.9 percent.
In New Brunswick, J.D. Irving, Limited’s rate will nearly quadruple from 4.2 percent to 15 percent.
Ron Marcolin, divisional vice-president of the Canadian Manufacturers And Exporters, said in an interview it seems the United States is repeating what it did with steel and aluminium tariffs.
“This is a political argument, of course, in the days of Trump he was using steel and aluminium to curry favour in the States where he had some issues. Biden, now with a bit of a lower interest in the polls, he too is listening to the very keen lumber lobbyist in Washington to bring up the rhetoric around softwood lumber yet again.”
“Different government, different product, but still the same protectionistic attitude, but as far as New Brunswick exports are concerned, we understand that the product will still be the same, and all costs will be pushed onto the end consumer,” continued Marcolin.
Marcolin mentioned the higher tariffs will penalize U.S. new home buyers because of increased lumber prices.
“Homebuyers are very much against this increase because they are the ones that will be paying the cost of the increased tax and tariffs, it’s not the lumber producers that are going to win here, it’s the homeowners that are going to lose.”
Ian Dunn, the executive director of the Ontario Forest Industries Association, says the new tariff is almost double what it was, which makes the cost of building new houses more expensive.
“We’ve done work with the National Association of Homebuilders…young families, the middle class are looking for new and affordable housing, which is becoming more and more out of reach for these people and doubling duties will not be helpful,” says Dunn.
Marcolin added the U.S. cannot produce enough softwood lumber internally to meet its demand, “so they are forced to import … so, we play a major role in their imports and our exports, but it’s unfair to penalize the nation that’s your closest ally and trading partner.”
Dunn says despite high lumber prices, the tariffs are going to hurt its members.
“I’ve heard from our members that this is a real concern. You know the market for lumber, it goes up and it goes down, so who knows a couple of years down the line what will happen to lumber prices and if these duties continue to be there, companies will suffer…communities will suffer.”
Dunn says while the tariff for most lumber companies is almost 18 percent, some lumber companies in Ontario and Quebec are looking at a 30 percent duty.
With files from Tim Davidson
Tim Herd is a reporter with CHSJ/Country 94, Huddle content partners.
New Brunswick, News, Saint John
Halifax, News, Nova Scotia
News
Huddle will only approve your comment if you provide your first and last name.
Your email address will not be published.
