As the threat of US President Donald Trump’s 25%, across the board tariffs on Canadian products looms, a separate hit for the Canadian and BC lumber sector.

The US Commerce Department has issued its latest preliminary anti-dumping rate, setting it at an average of 20.07%.

This is a substantial jump from the 7.66% that most lumber producers had been paying.

In making its determination public today, officials with the BC Lumber Trade Council tell Radio NL they were somewhat surprised that the US Commerce Department didn’t issue its Countervailing Duty rate today as well.

Those two combined are what lumber producers have to pay to get their products over the border.

The current combined rate has been 14.4%.

It’s not clear when the latest Countervailing Duty rates will come out.

These are preliminary figures, and can be adjusted before they are fixed in the summer.

More to come…