By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

BC Premier David Eby is putting his anti-tariff ads on ice after an emergency summit with federal ministers on Monday morning.

“We’ve committed to the federal government that when the time comes to be speaking directly to Americans, we’ll do it in partnership with them,” Eby told reporters at a press conference in Vancouver immediately after the emergency softwood lumber summit.

“We will not be running the ads by ourselves.” 

Last week, Eby announced the province’s plan to launch a digital ad campaign to inform the American public about the “unfair and absurd” tariffs on Canada’s softwood lumber and, at the time, had not consulted with the federal government. As recently as last Thursday, Eby’s office indicated the ad campaign would proceed sometime in November. 

Minister of Internal Trade Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson and Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Gregor Robertson attended the emergency softwood lumber summit on Monday. Eby said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the turnout and said having this team of federal ministers in his corner is “hugely helpful.”

Both the province and federal government agreed the two levels of government must work together on communications and strategy around tariffs, Eby said. 

Eby’s approach of collaborating on communications with the federal government stands in contrast with Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s decision to run an anti-tariff ad, which US President Donald Trump then used as a reason to halt all trade talks with Canada and threaten further tariffs.

The west coast summit wasn’t all about ads, though: Eby said the summit facilitated the creation of a task force of senior deputy ministers from the federal and provincial government to work together in coming weeks on support for the forestry sector.

“It has been incredibly difficult to hear that the topics being discussed with the United States are energy, aluminum and steel,” Eby said, adding that these sectors are important and deserving of support, but so is BC’s softwood lumber industry. However, after the emergency summit, Eby no longer feels like BC is going it alone and has a “strong partner” in the federal government.

On Oct. 14, the Trump administration announced a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian softwood lumber, which, on top of pre-existing duties, now amounts to a 45 per cent tariff. At the same time, Trump slapped a 25 per cent tariff — set to increase in 2026 — on some other wood products, including furniture such as kitchen cabinets and vanities. In 2024, more than 20 per cent of BC’s total commodity exports were wood products, such as lumber, pulp and wood pellets. 

BC seeking new markets

The US is the province’s largest trading partner, but BC is making moves to find new markets for its softwood lumber and other wood products. 

This week BC Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar Parmar is embarking on the “largest forest minister’s trade mission to Asia in the history of our province, bringing alongside myself a number of companies, First Nations and value-added partners,” he told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview last week. Parmar will be travelling to Asia from Nov. 7 to 14. More details are expected in the coming days about which countries will be included, but Japan and South Korea are already confirmed.

“Japan is a very important market to us in British Columbia — I would argue, probably the most important market in terms of value of products,” Parmar said. Japan is BC’s third largest trading partner for forest products, after the US and China. In June 2025, trade was down with all BC’s trading partners compared to the previous year.

Japan’s aging population and declining birthrate are reducing demand for softwood lumber imports because there’s less demand for residential housing, but Parmar sees an opportunity for growth thanks to Japan’s booming tourism sector. 

“They’ve shared with us that they need to build 50,000 hotel rooms every single year from now until 2030, and so I want to find a way to be able to build BC wood into their ambitious targets,” Parmar said.

Similarly, he said the UK has “ambitious” housing targets over the next five years, and BC can support those goals with its lumber and wood products.

To help further this goal, BC’s Crown corporation, Forestry Innovation Investment, will open an office in London, UK, the province announced recently. 

Parmar envisions the UK trade office as a gateway to rebuild BC’s trade with other markets in the EU, Middle East and northern Africa, where BC once had significant trade relationships.

“The message that I have to Europeans, to those in North Africa as well as select markets in the Middle East … [is] this is a longstanding relationship that we want to rebuild, because our relationship with the United States has changed forever,” Parmar said.

Forestry companies moving south

But diversification and sales will not save the industry, said Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University, in a phone interview with Canada’s National Observer. There are other longstanding issues facing the forestry sector.

A recent investigation published by The Tyee shows that big forestry companies — Canfor, Interfor and West Fraser — were investing billions south of the border well before Trump initiated the trade war.

“We’ve long since harvested the stuff that’s easy to get to,” Hampson said. With fewer high value trees available for harvest and the need to venture into more remote areas, costs increase for the industry, he added.

“The industry is not nearly as efficient as competitors now in the United States and in Latin America,” he said. 

“It’s a double hit that the industry is experiencing: long-standing productivity challenges, efficiency challenges, coupled with, now the tariff bludgeon and so … the reality is that this is not going to be a driver of the BC economy,” Hampson said, adding that a responsible government would focus on creating a regulatory environment that entices investment in other sectors.

— With files from the Canadian Press

Links of Interest:

• Q&A: Expert discusses What 45% tariffs mean for B.C.’s forest sector – Phys.org
• Why higher tariffs on Canadian lumber may not be enough to stimulate long-term investments in US forestry – The Conversation
• Articles about, or mentioning, US tariffs on softwood lumber

Top image crfedit: Wooden plans and beams in a lumber yard – photo by Nenad Stojkovic via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

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