TRENTON, Canada

Canadian hopes for tariff relief from the Trump administration were hammered Tuesday when the US hit Canada’s forestry industry with another levy.

The 10% tariff is piggy-backed on a 35% tariff already announced, and British Columbia Premier David Eby has called on the Canadian government for financial support for the forestry sector.

The industry is a major economic driver for the west coast province, which in 2024 exported an estimated CAN$5.6 billion ($3.9 billion) in wood products to the US, according to provincial figures, and another CAN$1.05 billion in pulp and paper products. The industry employs 100,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs in the softwood sector, according to the BC Lumber Trade Council.

In addition, the US slapped a 25% tariff on products like furniture.

"Our friends south of the border, with whom we have worked side by side, fought side by side, that we have worse market access than Russia, an international pariah, who has launched a war of aggression on Ukraine," he said during a news conference.

Eby said the “additional attack” on the industry means that Ottawa must pony-up with money for forestry workers.

"When auto parts makers, when steelworkers in Ontario, when their jobs are threatened, it’s treated as an emergency, and rightly so," he said.

"What we’re asking for today is that that same respect, that same concern, that same sense of emergency is shared for the forest sector in this country."

Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney went to Washington to discuss tariffs with US President Donald Trump. During a news conference, Trump said Canada will “walk away very happy.”