That is the setting as President Trump proclaimed publicly “We don’t need Canadian lumber” and then Canadian wood product (lumber and utensils too) got a tariff hike. So as American lumber is needed in construction it would not be starting at a 25% depletion of that market (12 billion board feet) is now going somewhere else, Canada has had enough of this bully tactic and that is going to cost America a lot more than ever considered. It is about to cost America well over an additional $23 billion (source: Capital Briefs) and that was merely the start of this. Now the Financial Times gives us ‘Canada to reroute lumber exports as Trump’s tariffs bite’ (at https://www.ft.com/content/e56e8bb0-6dc0-4447-a907-e95164cec8e5) where we see “Canadian producers are seeking to divert around 10 per cent of the lumber normally sent south of the border to new buyers in the UK, EU and Middle East after the US president in September added a 10 per cent tariff on lumber, on top of an existing 35 per cent duty. The aim to send some 1bn board feet to alternative markets — enough to build at least 75,000 average size American homes — underscores how Trump’s tariffs are starting to reshape some global supply chains, although tensions between the US and Canada over wood exports have simmered for more than half a century.” With the added ““The US simply needs to fact-check better before they end up with a large shortage of lumber that may cause further housing shortages,” said Rick Doman, chair of the Forestry Innovation Investment board of British Columbia, which produces over half of Canada’s lumber. Washington’s escalating trade measures towards Ottawa have led to shutdowns and job losses in Canada’s C$87bn ($63bn) forestry industry, one of the country’s largest employers.” We see that Canadians have had enough of the voice from Washington DC, with Canada shifting towards Europe and Asian Markets, as well as stocking up on renewable products the setting becomes a global setting where America can now no longer fuel its own softwood needs driving housing prices through the roof (except for Florida where the Canadian snowbirds are putting their houses up for sale, leaving in excess of 175,000 houses empty and deserted). That is the setting America no faces and whilst America accuses Canada itself as a dumping ground, they better come up with the evidence and as we see “Zoltan van Heyningen, executive director of the US Lumber Coalition, a lobby group, said the American timber industry could replace 1bn board feet of Canadian imports “without batting an eyelid”” that person better prove to be true to his word, because as it stands Canada is withdrawing over 3 billion board feet of wood. And the NAHB gives us that “With American sawmills operating at just 64 per cent of capacity it “will take years” for US domestic lumber production to expand to meet industry demands” and in that meantime it will be shredding nearly every environmental document it has, because as I see it, the nearest place it can go to is Washington State and I reckon it will cost a few more pennies to get all these trucks up and going. In the meantime we see that “the US relies on a further 12bn board feet of softwood lumber from Canada for use mostly in housebuilding. Even allowing for spare US sawmill capacity and average recent American exports of 1.3bn board feet a year, the US is currently 3.2bn board feet short of meeting current demand, according to analysis by Fastmarkets, a price reporting agency.” And the ‘graphs’ all show that America depends on almost 30% Canadian wood, when that all falls away its own wood export collapses to zero. And that gives America a new mess to deal with, because Canada is eager to make long term agreements with Europe and Asia, which means that the next administration inherits this mess in 2028 and there is no going back. And as I see it, the bill will be passed on to Weyerhaeuser, West Fraser and Sierra Pacific Industries who will have to increase their produce by almost 50%, to make up for the shortages it faces, so in what reality did you ever see that happen?
It might sound like an amazing option for these three, but in the American setting it does mean that nearly every environmental agreement will have to be torn up to even make this work. In the meantime Canada is expertly drilling into a $280 billion market and is seemingly doubling that within the next decade, as Canada is now moving from a resource player to more highly valued products, its margins will increase nearly exponentially and is becoming the new innovator on the block and that will ease the pressures that America thought they would hand them, their plan for Canada becoming the 51st state is blowing up in the faces of Politicians in Washington DC and that is the short and sweet of it for Canada. The hardship handed by president Trump is becoming the opportunity for PM Mark Carney. And Canada is loving the outcome of this setting, because as such high value products are to be made in Canada, giving them the setting from $255.20 towards a more then doubled market that is to come and as China replaces America as the number one export country, there will be additional settings there too. An opportunity that Canada will handle with care while in the same time increasing its export to Europe. As I see it, America merely shot itself in the foot (yet again) and that setting is to be crowned as the number one achievement for the Administration carrying that royal crown. It tried to diminish the economic footprint of its northern partner, instead it opened a new revenue handle and increased its export standing with both the EU and China. And as I see it, at no significant initial loss to Canada and over the next few years it will show a significant surplus to boot.
A setting the Commonwealth prices and a big round of applause is handed in the direction of Prime Minister Mark Carney who is now seen as the big winner (perhaps he will accept a Nobel peace price in 2026?)
Well, you all have a great day and special mention for Capitol Brief and the Financial Times for their support in this. It is 02:00 now. Time for me to introduce myself to the procedure of snoring.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 