‘Nothing more than a distraction,’ says B.C. forest minister on Trump’s lumber order

B.C.'s Forest Minister Ravi Parmar answers questions from the media in Langford, B.C., on Thursday, May 25, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

B.C.‘s Forest Minister said the latest executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump is “nothing more than a distraction” after Trump signed two orders to increase his country’s domestic supply of timber while reducing its reliance of timber imports from other countries, including Canada.

President Trump on Saturday signed a pair of actions to increase domestic lumber production, including appointing a directive for the Commerce Department to investigate the possible harms that lumber imports pose to national security.

A senior White House official said that Canada, Brazil and Germany, among others, are engaged in subsidies regarding lumber that put the United States at a disadvantage. At the president’s direction, a directive for the Commerce Secretary would investigate possible national security risks.

Ravi Parmar said in a statement that Trump’s latest move could only pose as a distraction from solving the real issue at hand — the “unjustified softwood lumber duties that are hurting workers on both sides of the border.”

The U.S. raised duties on softwood lumber from Canada last August from 8.05 per cent to 14.54 per cent.

“These trade barriers will only serve as a tax on middle-class Americans trying to build new homes and on communities devastated by wildfires and hurricanes, forcing them to pay more to rebuild,” said Parmar, who visited U.S. last month on a trade mission aimed to show how the tariffs will hurt consumers on both sides of the border.

One of the orders said the country’s inability to exploit domestic timber supply has impeded the creation of jobs, leading to wildfire disasters and increased cost of construction.

“These onerous Federal policies have forced our Nation to rely upon imported lumber … It is vital that we reverse these policies and increase domestic timber production to protect our national and economic security,” read the order.

Parmar said Trump’s order to increase U.S. lumber production by eliminating environmental requirements shows that “the U.S. would rather abandon its environmental standards than trade fairly with other countries.”

A 2022 report published by B.C.‘s Ministry of Forests said the U.S. was B.C.‘s largest market for forest products with exports amounting to $9.6 billion in 2022.

The report also said that in 2022, Canada accounted for almost one-third of total U.S. consumption of softwood lumber, and B.C. alone contributed 11 per cent of estimated U.S. softwood lumber consumption.

Parmar said the Canadian forest sector has been playing by the rules, and these trade barriers could only benefit a handful of American companies at the expense of workers, families and businesses in both countries.

“We need fair trade, not political games that hurt workers and drive up costs for everyone,” Parmar said.

Meanwhile, Unifor said the new order from Trump is a “direct threat” to Canadian softwood lumber and wood products, which could leave thousands of jobs across the country at risk.

Lana Payne, the national president of Unifor, said in a statement that suggesting Canadian lumber and byproducts are a threat to the U.S. is “ludicrous,” and Trump is trying to twist regulations to attack Canadian softwood industry and the livelihoods that depend on it.

Unifor Quebec director Daniel Cloutier said the existing unjustified duties is already causing job loss and business shutdowns, Trump’s goal to pile tariff on top of tariff will price Canadian forestry industry out of existence.

President Trump said his 25 per cent tariff on imports from Canada will go into effect on Tuesday after a month-long pause with Canada introducing new security measures at the border.

Trump’s executive order aims to implement 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports, including slapping 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum imports, with a lower 10 per cent levy on energy.

---with files from Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Mar. 2, 2025.

The Canadian Press