The prospect of further tariffs on B.C.’s softwood lumber industry in particular \u2014 which is already dealing with a high 35 per cent<\/a> duty imposed by the U.S. \u2014 could mean even more mill closures and job losses, experts say.<\/p>\n WATCH | Softwood lumber duties increased to 35%:\u00a0<\/p>\n “Lumber is just one of many sectors that could get impacted \u2026 maybe lumber gets a lower tariff, but plywood and OSB\u00a0[engingeered wood]\u00a0and pulp get a higher tariff. We don’t know,” said Russ Taylor, a forestry industry consultant and analyst.<\/p>\n “But, very clearly, this is a broad-based approach to how the U.S. can deal with applying tariffs based on whatever their logic is and, you know, [put] the chokehold on Canada,” he added.<\/p>\n Under Section 232 of\u00a0the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, top U.S. officials can direct the Secretary of Commerce to\u00a0look into suspected national security threats\u00a0caused by imports. Within 270 days \u2014\u00a0roughly nine months\u00a0\u2014 the secretary must present the president with a report and any recommendations for action.<\/p>\n Trump has previously imposed tariffs based on Section 232 investigations for\u00a0steel, aluminum, autos, and copper, which have been particularly damaging to the Canadian economy, leading to job losses and a drop in exports.<\/p>\n The United States has long been the single largest market for B.C. lumber exports, representing over two-thirds of the market for the approximately $10-billion industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, thousands of jobs have been lost<\/a> as mills have been closing around the province in recent years, and major forestry companies are opening up new mills in the United States.<\/p>\n WATCH | Separating fact from fiction in the lumber dispute:\u00a0<\/p>\n Taylor \u2014 who lists Teal Cedar, West Fraser Timber and Western Forest Products among the nearly 300 forestry companies he’s worked for \u2014\u00a0says that, while the anticipated Section 232 tariffs could cause further mill curtailments in B.C., the U.S. forestry industry doesn’t yet have the capacity to fill the void that would be left by a lack of Canadian imports.<\/p>\n “We’re 22 to 24 per cent of U.S. consumption, so that can’t go away to zero because they’ll be short,” he said of the U.S. softwood lumber market.<\/p>\n “And believe me, the U.S. mills will be very happy to raise their price \u2026 at a discount to the Canadian price because that’s just free money in the short term for them,” he added.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Taylor says that the average U.S. homebuilder<\/a> is going to be the one that ends up paying more as it becomes more expensive to import Canadian lumber due to tariffs and duties.<\/p>\n A worker inspects lumber on a conveyor belt at West Fraser Pacific Inland Resources sawmill in Smithers, B.C., in February 2020. Over two-thirds of the B.C. softwood lumber industry exports are destined for the U.S. (Jesse Winter\/Reuters)<\/p>\n Results could arrive in the fall: minister<\/p>\n The Section 232 investigation into imported wood products was initiated in March<\/a>, the same week Trump ordered a similar investigation into imported copper.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/d82ce0b2abb1a14ccfe315daf88b2d23.jpeg\"\/)
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