A Richmond plywood manufacturer is concerned about what Wednesday is going to bring for his business.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as officials race against the clock to secure a new trade deal before new 50-per-cent tariffs take effect Wednesday.
The duties will impact roughly $28 billion worth of Canadian exports, including 20 per cent of sales at Richmond Plywood, where they produce a lot of high-end product.
“A 50 per cent tariff is not a margin we can absorb, nor is it something U.S. customers will be willing to pay,” Bhavjit Thandi, CFO of Richmond Plywood, said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Newfoundland on Monday and says he expects to speak with U.S. President Donald Trump before Wednesday’s deadline
He wasn’t saying much else.
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“We’ll have opportunities over the next 48 hours to discuss that in more detail as the negotiations go forward; I think that’s the best forum,” he said.
David Eby’s government wasn’t commenting on the trade talks Monday.
They don’t have much of a line of sight into what’s going on in Washington, but if those new tariffs are imposed, B.C. will feel the pain.
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“Our estimate is that B.C. has about 13 per cent in terms of the U.S. share of those exports that take a hit and this is a little bit higher than Ontario and Quebec,” Brian Yu, associate vice president and chief economist with Central 1 Credit Union, said.
So far, the premier is reluctant to make any concessions such as returning U.S. alcohol to B.C. shelves without tariff relief for key industries such as forestry.
But sources told Global News the Americans have not been interested in discussing softwood lumber.
“The softwood lumber sector is bigger than auto parts and steel combined in terms of the Canadian economy and it needs to be front and centre at the table,” Eby said on Friday.
Despite the impasse, there’s hope the new 50-per-cent U.S. tariffs will be delayed or scrapped, but for businesses watching as the deadline nears, negotiators are cutting it awfully close for comfort.
-with files from Uday Rana
Then sell to Asia, sell to EU, sell to a america. Like seriously, there’s hundreds of other markets out there that Carney has opened up. Use them and stop being lazy.
Just make any remaining US customers pay it.
We are losing Canadian manufacturers. And Candian citizens are leaving in droves, just look up the record number set in 2024, before Trump took office.
Dave your a prik
Why would the Canadian supplier absorb the tariff!?! Trumps tariffs are taxes on Americans to increase the governments funds. Canadian companies do not pay them. Why are Canadian news agencies pretending they cost Canadians anything other than a competitive upper hand? Canadian companies just need to start selling to other countries to maintain a growth forcast in revenue. That should be the focus.
Ass Up assholes
No brainer cut off anything to do with USA even bc hydro should cut off our power going to USA
Anonymous – “Global needs to do better, and the people who keep voting to drive out country into the dirt need to go back to school.”
Who needs to go back to school? 🤣🤣
Its clear how little Global news and the and the political left understand tariffs.
If the USA tariffs us, that means when Americans purchase our lumber they have to pay %50 of the cost of the good as a tax to their federal government. It does not mean that Canadians pay to sell their goods, its just plain wrong.
Global needs to do better, and the people who keep voting to drive out country into the dirt need to go back to school.
The US is trying to destroy Canada. We have to be strong. Only about 2 years left
Last week, Global had an article with a headline saying more than 50% of businesses thought Trump would TACO.
They later edited the headline and article.
Now Global is trying to push the false narrative that Canadian companies will have to absorb the tariffs.
That is not how it works.
They will just lose a lot of sales to the USA and have to close factories and lay off workers but no Canadian company is going to absorb the cost of US import tariffs.
Dave,
It won’t teach them a lesson, nothing will, they will just blame Trump as they do now.
It’s the elbows up sick mentality.
Canada is cooked!
cancel the F35’s
Time for some Tacos today.
Couldn’t care less anymore
I hope evey single one of them loses their job, their home and everything else
After almost 15yrs of decline extreme consequences is what it appears its going to take for Canadians to pull their heads out of their back ends
Here comes all the whinning from all the manufacturers who will be begging for tax payers funded bailout money. Watch a see how the NDP fold like a towel
Maybe the B.C. plywood manufacturer should have voted better.
With the Trump tariff deadline looming over Canada, where was Mark for the past couple of weeks?
He isn’t really into Canada and his U.S. based “blind” trust investments are safe, so he went to Italy to lay the groundwork for surrendering our sovereignty to the EU.
The only question I have is when will he make the big joining the EU MOU reveal, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Day, or during our Eurovision debut performance?
Sorry, why are YOU absorbing the tariffs?? This is what the America businesses and citizens will absorb if they want our wood products..
There wouldn’t be ant tarriffs if Poilievre would have his security clearance
Don’t Worry ,Mark Carney has a solution for your problem. You just got to lift those Elbows Up,way up in the air.
Well that’s it for today’s course in Liberal Problem Solving,tune in tomorrow for “How to leave your assets to the Liberal Party before your MAID appointment “
Yes, you can, but it shouldn’t just come out of layoffs and pay cuts at the bottom.
Ok well , it’s the Americans that absorb the tariff .your sales will likely drop some .