Trump slaps tariff on Canadian softwood lumber

20% tariff on soft wood coming from Canada. Let's see where this new protectionism takes us, this seems like a response to Canada's pricing of milk.

The Trump administration moved Monday to impose a 20 percent tariff on softwood lumber entering the United States from Canada, escalating an intensifying trade dispute between the two countries.

finance.yahoo.com...


In the last week Trump has disagreed with Canada's pricing of domestic milk, this is leading to lower prices and are hurting exports from US states like Wisconsin. Trump called the new milkl pricing a disgrace.

Trump has been railing against Canada's decision to change its policy on pricing domestic milk to cover more dairy ingredients, leading to lower prices for products, including ultra-filtered milk. Trump has called the move "a disgrace" that's hurting U.S. producers in dairy states like Wisconsin.

"It has been a bad week for U.S.-Canada trade relations," said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a statement. "This is not our idea of a properly functioning Free Trade Agreement."

The soft wood tariff is no batch of small potatoes, it is a multi billion $$$ industry.

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, imports of softwood lumber from Canada were valued at an estimated $5.66 billion in 2016.

Jared must have shorted some stock.

a reply to: seasonal

All I can say is tit-for-tat. Go Trump!! When these other countries want to put tariffs on our goods and not budge this is exactly the response they need.

a reply to: seasonal

the only problem i can see with this is the cost of domestic lumber is also going to increase, as the supply of canadian lumber starts to dry up or is to expensive to buy. maybe he should have picked a more comparable product.

a reply to: brutus61

Except that isn't what happened. Not to mention Tariffs only hurt consumers, not help them.

Level the playing field.

It's going to be painful at first but in the long run will benefit us more.

a reply to: brutus61

Tariffs should be automatic and proportional to trade imbalances.

a reply to: Leonidas

If that were true then why does every other country in the world have so many? What is it that they understand that you do not?

a reply to: seasonal
Canada offer subsidies on their timber, which is part of the reason the treasury targeted this particular home building lumber for tariffs. This has actually been an ongoing dispute since the 1980's between US and Canada, and they imposed tariffs in 2006 as well before reaching an agreement that lasted until October 12, 2015.

Canada–United States softwood lumber dispute
The heart of the dispute is the claim that the Canadian lumber industry is unfairly subsidized by federal and provincial governments, as most timber in Canada is owned by the provincial governments. The prices charged to harvest the timber (stumpage fee) are set administratively, rather than through the competitive marketplace, the norm in the United States. In the United States, softwood lumber lots are privately owned, and the owners form an effective political lobby. The United States claims that the Canadian arrangement constitutes an unfair subsidy, and is thus subject to U.S. trade remedy laws, where foreign trade benefiting from subsidies can be subject to a countervailing duty tariff, to offset the subsidy and bring the price of the commodity back up to market rates.

Looks like this dispute is raging on today as ever before.

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

Yes, I agree. But we also need to protect our workers. If the world wants access to our markets they have better learn to play fair.

This free trade is good for corps but not the average working American. There needs to be a balance, and I hope Trump will figure out where that is.

a reply to: Leonidas

Tariffs can also help keep people employed.

a reply to: seasonal

true, but when he targeted lumber he ensured that the cost of housing and some commercial construction is going to go up. which will cause an even more hardship on our workers that want to buy or build a home, hell maybe even renting. if he would have targeted a more comparable product. as in a agricultural one, at least that wouldn't have added cost to building. just food which people can adapt to better than the cost of housing. easier to change your eating habits than to come up with more money for housing.

a reply to: seasonal

I can tell you from the Canadian point of view that Trump is literally retarded as both the dairy and the softwood lumber are both NOT included in NAFTA, never were, and he keeps hammering on that.

That aside, the Canadian dairy market is more global and open than the US one (no one in the States even realizes that), the latest addition of which was the free trade agreement with the EU.

Canada already imports enough dairy from the States, as well as internationally, to the point that the market is saturated and Canada literally doesnt need any more. Population is 35 mil. US population is near 300 mil. When the government here said the US over-produces dairy, they werent kidding.

For Canada to import even more US dairy, they would have to allow local dairy farmers to go bankrupt, because the prices for milk, etc would collapse. Its already super low, at roughly 1-2 Canadian dollars per litre? Depends on the company.

On top of all that, the quality standard is higher in Canada than the US. So a lot of fake cheese stuff doesnt pass the bar. The things that do, already get imported.

The soft wood lumber is predominantly cheaper because of the labour market with 25% saving on the canadian dollar vs the US one.

I actually agree with Trump on this, not for the same reason. I want Canada to chill with the tree cutting on federal lands.

For the States, this is good for lumber mills and bad for anyone building or buying housing. Softwood lumber price increase will be in the 20% range, at a minimum, with more money circulating on the interior.

Dont expect Canada to reply in kind as the market for imports here is small compared to the States. Just dont expect anything on the dairy front, as short of literally telling Canadian farmers to quit milking cows, its just not gonna happen. Us produces too much dairy with nowhere to export it at the moment, and blaming a country with a population of 1/10th of the US for that problem, makes political sense, but has no real world value.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: Leonidas

Tariffs can also help keep people employed.

What is that what's source?

When did it become common not to question sources?

Isn't this convenient as hell?

Just a couple of months after Congress makes it easy to sell off national forests to lumber companies, along comes Donnie with a tariff on foreign lumber, meaning businesses are going to be looking for a cheaper source. Gee, I wonder where they'll get this cheaper lumber?

a reply to: tebyen

Maybe this can help embolden the hemp industry?

originally posted by: seasonal
20% tariff on soft wood coming from Canada. Let's see where this new protectionism takes us, this seems like a response to Canada's pricing of milk.

The Trump administration moved Monday to impose a 20 percent tariff on softwood lumber entering the United States from Canada, escalating an intensifying trade dispute between the two countries.

finance.yahoo.com...


In the last week Trump has disagreed with Canada's pricing of domestic milk, this is leading to lower prices and are hurting exports from US states like Wisconsin. Trump called the new milkl pricing a disgrace.

Trump has been railing against Canada's decision to change its policy on pricing domestic milk to cover more dairy ingredients, leading to lower prices for products, including ultra-filtered milk. Trump has called the move "a disgrace" that's hurting U.S. producers in dairy states like Wisconsin.

"It has been a bad week for U.S.-Canada trade relations," said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a statement. "This is not our idea of a properly functioning Free Trade Agreement."

The soft wood tariff is no batch of small potatoes, it is a multi billion $$$ industry.

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, imports of softwood lumber from Canada were valued at an estimated $5.66 billion in 2016.

It's also a retroactive tariff....so Canada went in debt to the US immediately. I have a feeling a resolution will come soon.

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
a reply to: seasonal
Canada offer subsidies on their timber, which is part of the reason the treasury targeted this particular home building lumber for tariffs. This has actually been an ongoing dispute since the 1980's between US and Canada, and they imposed tariffs in 2006 as well before reaching an agreement that lasted until October 12, 2015.

Canada–United States softwood lumber dispute
The heart of the dispute is the claim that the Canadian lumber industry is unfairly subsidized by federal and provincial governments, as most timber in Canada is owned by the provincial governments. The prices charged to harvest the timber (stumpage fee) are set administratively, rather than through the competitive marketplace, the norm in the United States. In the United States, softwood lumber lots are privately owned, and the owners form an effective political lobby. The United States claims that the Canadian arrangement constitutes an unfair subsidy, and is thus subject to U.S. trade remedy laws, where foreign trade benefiting from subsidies can be subject to a countervailing duty tariff, to offset the subsidy and bring the price of the commodity back up to market rates.

Looks like this dispute is raging on today as ever before.

Apparently there was a 9 year sort of truce or moratorium before lawyers could once again take up the dispute, which expired last year.

Yea, Canadian lumber is government owned, mostly, some is private (there Canadian companies with US mills as well as Chinese mills). Wont be changing any time soon either, since those lands are federal and not for sale.

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

First we don't know if the cost is going up.

Second this has to start somewhere. If the true cost of a product is more expensive, then it needs to priced correctly.

The world has gotten used to products that are priced at a false cost. The costs are externalized, and this is a very temporary profit gaining and gaming scheme. Having products produced by slave labor is not in our counties best interest (I am not saying slave labor is a concern in this instance).

originally posted by: Vasa Croe

originally posted by: seasonal
20% tariff on soft wood coming from Canada. Let's see where this new protectionism takes us, this seems like a response to Canada's pricing of milk.

The Trump administration moved Monday to impose a 20 percent tariff on softwood lumber entering the United States from Canada, escalating an intensifying trade dispute between the two countries.

finance.yahoo.com...


In the last week Trump has disagreed with Canada's pricing of domestic milk, this is leading to lower prices and are hurting exports from US states like Wisconsin. Trump called the new milkl pricing a disgrace.

Trump has been railing against Canada's decision to change its policy on pricing domestic milk to cover more dairy ingredients, leading to lower prices for products, including ultra-filtered milk. Trump has called the move "a disgrace" that's hurting U.S. producers in dairy states like Wisconsin.

"It has been a bad week for U.S.-Canada trade relations," said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a statement. "This is not our idea of a properly functioning Free Trade Agreement."

The soft wood tariff is no batch of small potatoes, it is a multi billion $$$ industry.

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, imports of softwood lumber from Canada were valued at an estimated $5.66 billion in 2016.

It's also a retroactive tariff....so Canada went in debt to the US immediately. I have a feeling a resolution will come soon.

US companies who bought the lumber went into debt and need to pay tax on it, not the Canadian ones.