With Joe Biden officially sworn in as the new U.S. president, B.C.’s Forest Minister is hopeful about what that could mean for cross-border relations on forest products.

Katrine Conroy was asked about what the new administration means for softwood lumber exports.

“That will be interesting. Biden is very much supportive of U.S. products, but I also know from talking to people who have personal experiences with him that he’s very realistic. And he wants to work with Canada, he sees it as a partnership. So we’ll see how that works.”

As the Biden government takes the reigns, many forest companies in Canada are in a better position for exporting than they were for most of Donald Trump’s presidency.

In late November, the U.S. Department of Commerce more than cut in half softwood lumber tariffs for most Canadian forest companies, from 20.23 per cent to 8.99 per cent.

That reduction came after the World Trade Organization ruled the 20-per-cent tariff imposed by the Trump administration in 2017 was unfair.

“It’s good news,” Conroy told NL News in November, shortly after the drop in tariffs.

“It’s ongoing, this is a 40-year issue that’s been going on. It’s one that is definitely good news for our forest industry here in B.C. I mean every case that we’ve taken to tribunal, we’ve won. So we just have to continue to do that.”