The Trump administration is taking retaliatory action against Canada over a decades-old trade dispute, moving to impose a 20% tariff on softwood lumber that is typically used to build single-family homes, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday in an interview.
Mr. Ross said the tariff would be applied retroactively and imposed on Canadian exports to the U.S. of about $5 billion a year. He said the dispute centers on Canadian provinces that have been allegedly allowing loggers to cut trees down at improperly subsidized costs and sell them at lower prices.
So since he seems to need to cause a shit storm every day, Trump has now fired his first trade salvo at Canada, and follows up on his dairy jibe the other day (of course ignoring the fact that the US has a $400 million trade surplus in dairy with Canada — but heck those are just “facts” (www.theglobeandmail.com/...)).
This is a long running dispute, but using it to start a trade war so early in his presidency does not inspire confidence — then again nothing that the little boy does seems to inspire anything positive. (As an aside I have started to see Donald as a kindergarten student. It perfectly fits the way he talks — as an example just watch his interview where he talks about how good friends he is becoming with China’s leader — it sounds just like a kindergartener coming home to tell mommy how he made a new friend at school).
It will be interesting to see how Canada responds. Personally I would put a temporary export ban on Canadian softwood (a key ingredient in US housing construction). That or shut down all trump properties in Canada.
But hey, the immediate market reaction was a drop in the Canadian dollar, so right away American exports became less competitive, and Canadian exports more so. Thanks donnie boy.
The joke of course is that donnie is fixated on softwood because well his hardwood is so rare.