High anxiety over softwood lumber despite tone change from U.S.: B.C. premier

By Canadian Press on April 3, 2025.

British Columbia’s premier says he is encouraged to see a shifting tone in U.S. President Donald Trump’s talks with Canada, but concerns remain about how tariffs could devastate the province’s softwood lumber sector.

Premier David Eby says he will be travelling to Prince George in the B.C. Interior to speak with forest industry representatives, in light of Trump’s statements that the United States doesn’t need Canadian lumber.

Eby, who spoke with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday, says he is hopeful that the change in tone from the White House “means some stability and ultimately grounds to sit down like adults” and reach a new trade agreement.

But the premier also says Trump’s launch of a national security investigation into Canada’s timber practices and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s repeated indications that the sector is a key area of “concern” raise anxiety about the industry’s future.

Eby’s comments come as Canada has largely escaped the worst of Trump’s tariff announcements on Wednesday where nations around the world were hit with new double-digit tariffs.

The premiers says Carney is set to visit B.C. “in the coming days” during the ongoing federal election campaign, and softwood lumber will be among his top priorities when the two meet.

“It’s important for the prime minister to understand the unique impacts of the president’s actions on British Columbia,” Eby says. “The risk always with prime ministers and with federal parties is they get trapped in Ontario … they are in Ottawa, they’re beside Quebec, literally just over a bridge, and they forget about the West.

“So, my message to the prime minister will be that you have to be on top of issues in Western Canada and in British Columbia. Your response, whether they support workers or industries or whatever it is, needs to include British Columbia.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2025.

Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press