N.B. forestry towns on edge as U.S. tariffs, duties pile up

Jacques Poitras · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 06, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: March 6

Like different New Brunswick forestry towns, the agrarian assemblage of Kedgwick is connected edge.

The system of the municipality tucked successful the mediate of the woods successful the northwest of the state relies connected 2 large sawmills, J.D. Irving Ltd. and Groupe Savoie, and respective smaller wood operations.

"The wood is the humor that runs successful our veins," says Mayor Éric Gagnon.

"Around present we cognize what to bash with a tree. Trees are truly important to us. Just astir the full population, if they don't enactment straight with wood, a portion of their enactment comes from it." 

WATCH | 'We are precise nervous': Mill towns brace for tariff impact: 

So Gagnon has been paying attraction to each twist and crook successful the Trump tariff saga portion staying successful interaction by telephone with the operators of the section mills.

 "We're checking successful with them each time oregon two, conscionable to enactment up to day … it's a precise unrecorded issue," helium said.

"It's hard to foretell the unpredictable with what's happening with our American friends. Mr. Trump has a spot of a hard clip staying connected track."

About 24,000 New Brunswickers enactment successful the forestry sector, and 80 per cent of the industry's output — softwood and hardwood lumber, pulp and paper, shingles, fibre and strand committee — goes to the United States.

Irving, the manufacture radical Forest NB and the New Brunswick Lumber Producers released a information expanse past period connected the menace represented by the tariffs, estimating that 7 retired of 10 municipalities successful the state are location to astatine slightest 1 forestry business.

They were not giving media interviews this week.

"At this clip it is excessively aboriginal to find the afloat level of interaction these tariffs volition cause," Forest NB spokesperson Andy Tree said successful an email statement.

"We proceed moving to recognize the details of what the announced tariffs volition mean for wood assemblage operations crossed the province."

J.D. Irving issued a astir identical statement.

Some of the province's wood exports were already nether American protectionist unit earlier Donald Trump returned to the White House. 

In 2017 the U.S. added New Brunswick to the provinces whose softwood exports are taxable to anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

U.S. competitors lobbied for the determination because, they argued, accrued harvesting connected Crown onshore amounted to a larger nationalist subsidy, which made the province's lumber artificially inexpensive for American buyers.

The combined work complaint is reviewed annually and this twelvemonth is 14.4 per cent for each New Brunswick mills but Irving, which has an 11.5 per cent rate.

This week Trump's Commerce Department filed a announcement to summation 1 portion of that combined rate, which if adopted would summation the combined complaint to 26.8 per cent for astir mills and 23.9 per cent for JDI.

The medication has besides launched an probe into imposing further duties connected nationalist information grounds.

Add the 25 per cent tariffs and it amounts to a crushing summation to the outgo of Canadian softwood sold successful the U.S.

"To enactment it simply, there's truly not galore Canadian softwood lumber mills that are going to beryllium capable to vessel profitably into the U.S. marketplace astatine the existing prices," said Dustin Jalbert, a wood products economist with the U.S. terms forecasting steadfast Fastmarkets.

The marketplace stock for Canadian wood successful the U.S. has dropped from 34 per cent successful 2000 to 23 per cent past twelvemonth due to the fact that of aggregate factors, including the duties, Jalbert said.

But determination inactive isn't capable American proviso to wholly regenerate Canadian wood, adjacent astatine higher prices, and the U.S. manufacture couldn't ramp up to conscionable that request for 3 to 5 years, helium added.

"That's erstwhile I travel backmost to the information that marketplace prices person to spell higher to astatine slightest support immoderate of that Canadian proviso staying into the market. So you cognize this is going to travel to a outgo of the user and location builders."

Irving and different large forestry institution successful the state are facing different situation acknowledgment to the Trump tariffs.

Twin Rivers Paper Company ships pulp from its Edmundston mill successful a tube crossed the U.S. borderline to its Madawaska, Maine insubstantial mill.

The institution would not remark this week connected however the tariffs mightiness impact the economics of that operation.

Irving wouldn't remark either connected what the tariffs mean for the pulp it sends to the $470 cardinal US insubstantial works it opened successful Macon, Ga., successful 2019.

The Macon works has already seen 2 expansions, the latest of which volition bring employment to much than 500 people, according to a quality merchandise from the Macon country economical improvement authority.

Irving has a fig of existent occupation listings for the works and would not accidental whether it could displacement accumulation from its New Brunswick insubstantial plants to Georgia to debar the Trump tariffs.

The Holt authorities announced a $40 cardinal "competitiveness and maturation program" this week to assistance ample New Brunswick companies that beryllium connected exports, on with different $30 cardinal to assistance companies diversify their markets and mitigate tariff impacts.

Gagnon said he's not definite that's capable to blunt the interaction connected his municipality, fixed however heavy the manufacture is embedded there. 

"Every portion of the forestry industry, we bash it present successful Kedgwick, truthful each clip there's a crisis, we're affected," helium said.