Donald Trump could impose much larger tariffs on the European Union and Canada (two of its most important export markets for timber) if both deliver on their threats to gang up on the United States.
“If the European Union works with Canada to do economic harm to the USA, large-scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both to protect the best friend each of those two countries has ever had!”
Trump wrote on Truth Social yesterday.
It comes after Canada’s newly appointed Prime Minister, Mark Carney, headed to London and Paris earlier this week to seek stronger alliances with both partners amid the escalating trade war with the United States: “The Trump factor is the reason for the trip. The Trump factor towers over everything else Carney must deal with,” said Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto.
The threats come days out from the US hitting global lumber with a new round of “reciprocal tariffs” (April 2), a step that would add billions to the cost of timber products. Already, the European Union has warned that up to $1 billion of forest products traded from the US – including lumber, plywood, veneer, flooring, chipboard, fibreboard, pulp and paper – will be subject to countermeasures in response to steel and aluminium tariffs.
“(US Tariffs) are bad for business and worse for consumers,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, warning that a trade war would disrupt supply and raise prices across the Atlantic. “These measures are strong but proportionate,” she said, with EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic responsible for resolving the dispute.”
As it stands, Canada ($1.62 billion) and the EU ($970m) are the United States’ third and fourth most important markets for timber trade, behind China ($2.23 billion) and the UK ($1.61 billion).
The new threats come weeks after Wood Central revealed that China had suspended all logs arriving at Chinese ports over fears of bark beetle contamination. At the time, China’s General Administration of Customs said the decision, effective March 4, was made to prevent the spread of harmful organisms and protect China’s forestry and agricultural industries as per the Biosecurity Law of China, the Entry-Exit Animal and Plant Quarantine Law, and international phytosanitary measures.
- To learn more about Trump’s plans to hit global lumber with tariffs from April 2, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.
