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‘U.S. tariffs not really a shock’ says MP Gerry Ritz

Apr 26, 2017 | 2:00 PM

Calling it “troubling” and “short-sighted” Battlefords-Lloydminster M.P. and International Trade Critic Gerry Ritz weighed-in on the impending U.S. tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber imports announced on Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the duties could be as high as 24 per cent on Canadian lumber imports and would be retroactive for 90 days.

“This isn’t the first time this has happened,” said Ritz from his office in Ottawa. “We have faced this issue perhaps five times in the past three decades so it’s nothing new. What is new however, is that the president himself is leading the charge on this issue.”

The previous softwood agreement was signed in 2006 and expired in 2015. The Justin Trudeau government was still in its infancy while the Barack Obama administration was coming to an end, so a new deal was never brokered.

“This should not have come as a surprise to Canadians or the federal government,” Ritz noted. “Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigned that they were going to tear up the T.P.P. (Trans-Pacific Partnership) and renegotiate NAFTA if elected president.”

“I understand that he [Trump] will be signing an Executive Order within the next few days to remove the U.S. from NAFTA and this is his first bargaining ploy to renegotiate the agreement. The gauntlet has been thrown down on softwood and we know that the dairy sector is next.”

The former Minister of Agriculture under the Harper government also said he thinks the U.S. president has to look at the fallout such tariffs will have not only in Canada, but in the United States as well.

“The unfortunate part is that the last time they tried to employ tariffs Canada lost 15,000 jobs while 8,000 American jobs were lost,” Ritz added. “Plus I don’t think he [Trump] realizes that these duties will hurt the housing sector as well.”

“These tariffs will increase the cost of building a new home in the U.S. around $5,000 to the cost and if he adds a border tax like he has said he was exploring, it could be going up even more. So that means around one million people in America will not be building their new home because the costs now exceed what their mortgage capacity is.”

Industry experts say British Columbia and Quebec will be hit the hardest by the 24 per cent tariff, however Ritz is also concerned for Saskatchewan as well.

“Companies like Norsask Forest Products, one of the largest First Nations-owned sawmills in Canada, barely survived the last dispute,” Ritz recalled. “I think of the Flying Dust First Nations who have a great operation near Meadow Lake. Every job in Saskatchewan is important.”

Ritz expressed disappointment that the federal Liberal government seemed unprepared for the trade issue to arise even with all of the indicators.

“I know the Prime Minister has said that he is going to be tough but fair with the Americans on these disputes,” added Ritz. “Those who work in Canada’s forestry sector deserve stability and predictability from their government.”

 

roger.white@jpbg.ca

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