High anxiety over softwood lumber despite tone change from U.S.

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British Columbia’s prime minister said Thursday he was encouraged to see the tone of U.S. President Donald Trump’s talks with Canada, but remained worried about how tariffs could destroy the province’s cork timber department.

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Prime Minister David Eby said in Victoria media that he will travel to British Columbia on Friday to talk to representatives of the forest industry, given Trump’s repeated assertion that the United States does not need other threats to Canada such as Canadian timber since taking office.

In recent days, Trump has mentioned new Prime Minister Mark Carney with his official title, rather than calling him governor like former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Eby spoke with Carney earlier Thursday, saying he hoped the White House change in tone “means some stability and eventually sat down like an adult and reached a new trade deal.

But the Prime Minister also said Trump’s national security investigation into Canadian timber practices and repeated signs from U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggests that the industry is a key area of ​​”focusing”, which raises anxiety about the future of the industry.

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“So, this is two parts of the message from the Prime Minister this morning,” Ebby said. “One person is congratulating him on his current relegation with the President, and I am grateful for it.

“The second is that we can’t believe it.”

Eby’s comments came as Canada escaped the worst of Trump’s tariff announcement on Wednesday, where countries around the world were hit by new double-digit tariffs.

The Prime Minister said Carney will visit British Columbia “in the coming days” during the federal election event, and when the two meet, cork wood will become his top priority.

“It is important for the Prime Minister to understand the unique impact of the president on British Columbia’s actions,” Ebby said. “Always in the case of the Prime Minister and the federal party, their risk is that they are trapped in Ontario… They are in Ottawa, they are next to Quebec, and they are actually on the bridge, and they forget the West.

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“So my message to the Prime Minister is that you have to be on the issue in western Canada and British Columbia. Your response, whether they are supporting workers, industry or anything else, needs to include British Columbia.”

Although Ebby said Ottawa needs to make sure he heard from Western Canada, he criticized the views of former Federal Reform Party leader Preston Manning.

Ebby called Manning’s comment “totally weird” and said the timing of the idea was especially disturbing for him.

“I just can’t understand this mentality, and at this moment we’re all together trying to tear this country apart and drive division,” Ebby said. “We need to be united and be Canadians’ success. If we’re going to stand on our own feet, we have to stand together.”

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Ebby also spoke about the province’s Article 7 legislation aimed at improving British Columbia’s ability to respond to unpredictable and sudden tariff actions in the United States.

The NDP government has to back down part of the legislation, which will give emergency powers within the cabinet to take countermeasures.

The rest of the legislation includes the most “positive” proposals for the provincial government to “buy anything outside the United States”, both of which are urgently needed in the current geopolitical environment, Ebby said.

He also said that even if no law is passed at this time, the province can pay the provincial capital to impose commercial trucks on Alaska in order to access Alaska’s legislation.

“I know that’s a positive thing,” Ebby said. “It’s not something we’re going to use, but we’re going to make sure those Republican politicians in Alaska are plugged into the reality that I know they’re, but they have the extra motivation to talk to the president, stand up and say these tariffs aren’t a good idea.

“If you don’t have the tools to respond to the bully, if you can’t stand the bully, the bully will only come back.”

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