An additional duty for and a fresh round of tariffs on furniture from U.S. President went into effect Tuesday morning, adding further strain on the Canadian lumber industry.
Last month, Trump signed a presidential proclamation announcing a 10 per cent tariff on imports of softwood timber and lumber.
He also announced a 25 per cent tariff on some furniture, such as kitchen cabinets and vanities. The furniture tariffs apply to parts, completed models and other upholstered wooden products.
The White House said these tariffs are in addition to any levies previously announced.
The B.C. Lumber Trade Council said that with Canadian producers already facing anti-dumping and countervailing duties of just over 35 per cent, Canadian softwood lumber entering the U.S. will now see total import taxes exceeding 45 per cent.
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The tariff on kitchen cabinets and vanities is set to jump to 50 per cent in the new year, while the tariff on other upholstered wooden products will rise to 30 per cent on Jan. 1.
The duties come following a report by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that Trump said found that wood products were being imported into the U.S. “in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States.”
The British Columbia Lumber Trade Council called the new tariffs “misguided and unnecessary.”
The Canadian Forest Product Sector said Trump’s move “is unjustified and disregards decades of evidence and cooperation that confirm Canadian forest products strengthen, rather than threaten, U.S. national security.”
The U.S. has long accused Canada’s softwood lumber sector of violating rules on anti-dumping — flooding a market with cheaper, subsidized products to disrupt a domestic industry.
The U.S. Commerce Department announced plans last month to nearly triple duties on Canadian softwood lumber to just over 20 per cent.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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