The Trump administration took its first truly protectionist step yesterday, but its target wasn’t China or Mexico.
Instead, the US Commerce Department issued a preliminary finding that Canadian lumber imports receive unfair government subsidies, and ordered customs officers to begin collecting border tariffs averaging 20% on softwood coming over the border. Last year, the US imported more than $5 billion worth of lumber like this, much of it for homebuilding.
“This is not our idea of a properly functioning Free Trade Agreement,” commerce secretary Wilbur Ross warned in a statement.
