Canada's softwood lumber industry is grappling with its future, as it tries to assess the impact and fallout of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. The U.S. announced it would raise the duty on softwood lumber from Canada from 14.45% to 34.45%. - REUTERS
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00:00For this lumber company in Canada's British Columbia, U.S. tariff hikes are already a reality.
00:08This is Jeremy Griffin, site manager at the Gorman Group Sawmill.
00:12Being a Canadian right now, it's a very interesting time to be a Canadian.
00:16He says he's been fielding questions from employees about their finances.
00:20Is now a good time? We wanted to do this thing. We wanted to buy that RV or we were looking at changing from renting to buying a place to live.
00:28Canada's softwood lumber industry is grappling with its future after the U.S. announced duties would be raised to just over 34%.
00:36Previously, it was just over 14%.
00:39Some sawmills have already cut shifts for their employees.
00:45The government says Canada is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of softwood lumber.
00:51This is going to have a huge impact on our industry and certainly on our company.
00:55We rely heavily on the U.S. market.
00:59Nick Arkell is the CEO of Gorman Group.
01:02The company specializes in high-end wood, often used in the American home building and renovation market.
01:09About 55% of our volume would actually go to the U.S., but it would be more than likely about 70% of our value.
01:17Arkell says the company sells to 38 countries around the world at lesser volumes than the U.S.
01:22and will now be looking elsewhere.
01:25Demand for housing is increasing all the time.
01:29Demand for affordable housing is increasing all the time.
01:32So I feel there is going to be a demand for wood that's going to exceed the supply of it in the future.
01:40And that's going to be a North American issue.
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