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U.S. tariff on Canadian lumber 'catalyst for dramatic change'
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By CBC Online Staff
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. - Some U.S. lumber producers are admitting the hefty tariffs imposed on the Canadian industry have backfired.
The U.S. Commerce Department imposed a 27 per cent tariff on exports of homebuilding wood earlier this year. But an official with a key American lobby group says instead of reducing the amount of Canadian wood in the U.S. market, the opposite has happened.
"What they did is become the catalyst for dramatic change in the industry," said Brink Forest Products owner John Brink. Brink says the U.S. lumber tariffs have forced him to be more efficient. His plant in Prince George is getting bigger, a $2-million expansion so it can churn out two-by-fours 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The dramatic change has seen many of Canada's biggest lumber producers cut their costs, increase their exports, and put the squeeze on many U.S. sawmills, even as they continue to pay the hefty U.S. duties.
Idaho sawmill owner Dick Bennett admits the America trade action did not work and it's time to negotiate a new arrangement. "Somehow or other there has to be volume restraint with it, because what is happening is not working." said Bennett.
But in lumber communities, such as Prince George, B.C., John Brink says there is absolutely no appetite for a deal that would hinder Canadian firms from selling wood into their largest market.
Still, lumber interests on both sides of the border want an end to the seemingly never-ending trade fight over lumber, and there's hope that with Canada's bargaining position getting stronger, formal talks to end the wood war may not be far off.
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