{"id":617906,"date":"2026-04-21T02:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T02:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/617906\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T02:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T02:59:11","slug":"ottawa-orders-inquiry-into-manufactured-wood-product-imports-in-latest-protectionist-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/617906\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa orders inquiry into manufactured wood product imports in latest protectionist move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Employees sand pieces of custom cabinetry at the Cabico&co and Elmwood Cabinetry factory in St. Catharines, Ont.Nick Iwanyshyn\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Ottawa has launched a trade<\/a> inquiry into several manufactured wood products with the aim of protecting domestic producers from a surge in foreign competition at a moment when access to the U.S. market has been severely restricted. <\/p>\n

On Monday, Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne directed the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) to conduct a safeguard inquiry into global imports of cabinets and vanities, solid and engineered wood flooring and storage furniture.<\/p>\n

Safeguard inquiries are designed to prevent a sudden flood in foreign products from undercutting local manufacturers, and can result in significant tariffs<\/a> being placed on imports. They differ from the more common anti-dumping and countervailing duty inquiries in that safeguard measures are applied to all countries, rather than specific ones.<\/p>\n

Canadian cabinet, flooring and furniture manufacturers argue the measure is needed to shore up their industry, which is being battered from two sides.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s 25-per-cent tariffs on kitchen cabinets, vanities and upholstered furniture, imposed in October, have largely closed the U.S. market to Canadian exports. At the same time, Canada is experiencing a surge in imports from China, Vietnam and other low-cost Asian producers, which have also been shut out of the U.S. and are looking for alternative markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a new thing that we have Asian imports of kitchen cabinets in Canada. It started in Vancouver. It\u2019s big in the GTA. But it\u2019s really surged since last year,\u201d said James Hogg, president and chief executive of Quebec-based Uniboard Canada Inc., which manufacturers composite wood panels. This increase happened after the U.S. placed hefty tariffs on China and other Southeast Asian countries, Mr. Hogg said.<\/p>\n

U.S. duties paid by Canadian softwood producers surpass $8-billion<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the second safeguard investigation Ottawa has launched in less than a month. In March, Mr. Champagne directed the CITT to begin a similar inquiry into imports of frozen peas, canned corn and other preserved vegetables. <\/p>\n

It follows a range of other protectionist steps Ottawa has taken over the past year to deal with a global trade environment upended by the United States\u2019 sharp protectionist turn. These range from quotas on steel, above which a prohibitive tariff applies, to Buy Canadian measures aimed at prioritizing Canadian companies in federal and provincial procurement. <\/p>\n

While the safeguard inquiry is supported by Canadian manufacturers, it\u2019s opposed by importers and retailers, who say tariffs would drive up costs for Canadian consumers. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the consumer. It\u2019s about the cost of living in Canada,\u201d said Kim Furlong, CEO of the Retail Council of Canada. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I think about the decision of the government to direct the CITT to take on this case, I think about people\u2019s inability to find a house, to pay their mortgage. And now the government is signalling that maybe they\u2019ll be taxing the contents of their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S.-Canada lumber dispute is a \u2018broken process,\u2019 B.C. wood manufacturers say<\/a><\/p>\n

The CITT has 270 days to complete the inquiry, after which it will make recommendations to the federal government.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Wood Products Alliance, an industry group that was established to lobby Ottawa for protection, is pushing for preliminary tariffs to be implemented before the inquiry is complete. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is necessary to prevent a stockpiling of product in Canada, and to avoid even more layoffs in the coming months while the investigation runs,\u201d said William Pellerin, a partner in the international trade group at McMillan LLP, who is representing the Wood Products Alliance. <\/p>\n

The alliance is pushing for safeguard tariffs of up to 100 per cent, Mr. Pellerin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what it would take. I mean, a lot of these products are coming in below the cost,\u201d Mr. Pellerin said. The need for Asian producers to find new markets has \u201cmassively depressed prices\u201d in Canada, he said, requiring a significant tariff for Canadian producers to remain competitive. <\/p>\n

U.S. lumber group expands list of complaints against Canadian softwood producers<\/a><\/p>\n

To be successful, the alliance will have to prove to the CITT that the surge in imports has been large enough and sudden enough to cause serious injury to Canadian producers. <\/p>\n

Alain Ouzilleau, owner and president of Groupe Cabico Inc., one of Canada\u2019s largest cabinet makers, said the inquiry is important not just to shore up the domestic market, but also to show the Trump administration that Canada is serious about addressing dumping from low-cost Asian producers.<\/p>\n

Washington has had long-standing concerns about Chinese products being shipped into the U.S. via third countries, including Canada, to avoid tariffs put into place in 2019, Mr. Ouzilleau said. Those concerns led to the 25-per-cent tariff Mr. Trump imposed in October that did not exempt Canadian producers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a huge milestone to give me ammunition to go back to the U.S. administration \u2026 to show them that the Canadian government, with our industry, we\u2019re doing the right things in the right direction to better control our border,\u201d Mr. Ouzilleau said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Employees sand pieces of custom cabinetry at the Cabico&co and Elmwood Cabinetry factory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,20739,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-617906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-ottawa","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}