Replies to post #268498 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[DesertDrifter]

He seems to want to mess with canada in multiple ways. Maybe he will build a fence with canada to keep their dairy cattle out.

Tax on their lumber was not enough. Guess who benefits greatly from the tax on canadian lumber? Russia... the other cheap lumber that will get a bigger market share when canadian lumber is taxed comes from siberian boreal forests. Vlad will be pleased.

[StephanieVanbryce]

Canadian PM responds to lumber tariffs imposed by the US

By charmaine noronha, associated press
TORONTO — Apr 25, 2017, 2:10 PM ET

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that Canada and the U.S. could suffer from what he called a "thickening" border, a day after the Trump administration imposed new tariffs on softwood lumber and trade tensions between the two countries escalated.

Trudeau was responding to the announcement of new U.S. duties of up to 24 percent on softwood lumber entering from Canada.

Canada's Liberal Party leader said the two countries are economically interconnected, but it's not a one-way relationship.

"There are millions of good U.S. jobs that depend on the smooth flow of goods, services and people back and forth across our border," Trudeau said during a press conference.

He cited free trade in the North American auto sector as an example of how a typical car part can cross the border up to six times before it ends up in a finished automobile.

"You cannot thicken this border without hurting people on both sides of it," Trudeau said. "Any two countries are going to have issues that will be irritants to the relationship. Having a good constructive working relationship allows us to work through those irritants.

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr echoed Trudeau's sentiment, saying that the tariff hurts people in both countries, including American homebuyers, who will now pay more for wood.

The U.S. and Canada typically enjoy a friendly trading relationship, but things have soured in recent months.

Trump has been railing against Canada's decision to change its policy on pricing domestic milk to cover more dairy ingredients, leading to lower prices for products, including ultra-filtered milk. Trump has called the move "a disgrace" that hurts U.S. producers in dairy states like Wisconsin.

Trump tweeted Tuesday that Canada is making life "very difficult" for American dairy farmers and that the government "will not stand" for it. You know, don't you wonder if that was his first opening with the Canadians? . .sheeesh! .. WE WON'T stand for it! .. what a way to talk to people that you want something from.... all anything trump r dumb

Lumber and dairy issues were also problems under previous presidents. In softwood lumber, the countries have had a once-a-decade cycle of tariffs, trade litigation, and ultimately settlements.

Officials said Canada is not likely to challenge the new tariff legally under the North American Free Trade Agreement or with the World Trade Organization until next year.

The softwood spat is unfolding amid a much bigger trade issue — renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Despite remarks from the president and his cabinet secretary, neither lumber nor dairy are actually part of the current NAFTA.


So, this is actually new to trump only & that is why we even heard about it at this time ... he'd kill for 'any' attention that he perceived as flattering to him ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/canadian-pm-responds-lumber-tariffs-imposed-us-47008749

[JimLur]

The American wood products and forestry industries are critical elements of the U.S. manufacturing base and state economies. The U.S. sawmills and wood preservation industry employs over 90,000 workers across America. This represents an annual payroll income of over $3 billion which supports the economies of thousands of communities nationwide. An additional 266,000 American workers depend on the sawmills for their employment. There are approximately 650 manufacturing facilities operating in the sawmill, millwork, and treating sectors. Approximately 11 million U.S. private landowners, managing approximately 640 million acres of family-owned timberlands, depend on a strong domestic lumber industry.

The U.S. Lumber Industry Is Highly Competitive

The U.S. softwood lumber industry is under severe strain from unfairly traded imports of lumber from Canada. Canadian lumber producers claim that any disadvantage for U.S. producers is due to inefficiency in the U.S. industry. But, the U.S. lumber industry is highly competitive and is rated among the most efficient lumber industries in the world. Independent studies, including Canadian studies, show that the cost of manufacturing lumber in the United States is comparable to or lower than the cost in Canada. The Canadian industry's only real advantage over the U.S. industry is access to taxpayer-subsidized Canadian timber, which dramatically -- but artificially and unfairly -- lowers Canadian production costs.

The U.S. competitive market naturally discourages inefficiency. Operating in a market, U.S. mills that cannot compete effectively will not survive. In a competitive market, the cost of timber accounts for 60-70% of variable manufacturing costs and will rise as lumber prices rise. In stark contrast, the Canadian government -- which owns virtually all timberland in Canada -- shields Canadian lumber companies from market forces by artificially lowering those companies' wood costs by charging noncompetitive, below market prices for government timber and by distorting private log markets.

Thus, the alleged efficiency advantage of Canadian lumber is based solely on the massive subsidies enjoyed by Canadian lumber manufacturers. The Canadian regulatory system provides special breaks for failing mills and discourages competition through limits on tenure transferability. This regulatory system, along with other systemic economic distortions, helps keep Canadian mills with high cost structures in business, facilitating uneconomic production and unfair competition.

In addition to providing unfair subsidies, Canadian provinces have instituted other policies designed to maximize jobs and production in the Canadian industry -- including minimum harvest requirements, domestic processing mandates, and log export restrictions -- resulting in artificially high levels of timber harvests and lumber production even when the market is oversupplied.

The end-result is that Canadian companies unload excess production into the U.S. market at a cost of thousands of good-paying American jobs.

Through the subsidies and policies that induce uneconomical manufacturing, the provinces export production cutbacks, mill closures and job losses to the United States. Efficient U.S. sawmills and workers cannot and should not be expected to pay the price for Canadian provinces' efforts to protect Canadian mills from market realities and competition.

http://www.uslumbercoalition.org/general.cfm?page=31