California looks to Canadian timber to help in fire rebuild, despite tariff threat

California needs B.C. timber

Photo: The Canadian Press

California's homebuilders may continue to buy Canadian lumber even if new tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump comes into effect, as demand skyrockets after Los Angeles's devastating wildfires. Softwood lumber sits stacked at, a sawmill in Mont-Blanc, Que., on Jan. 20. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

California homebuilders say they will have few options but to keep buying Canadian lumber even if it's hit with 25 per cent tariffs as they rebuild thousands of homes destroyed by devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.

Dan Dunmoyer, president of the California Building Industry Association, says "there aren't really alternatives" to Canadian lumber used for homebuilding in the state because about 80 per cent of Californian land is owned by federal or state government and can't be logged.

Dunmoyer says California also lacks mills, environmental policies and other ecosystem needs that would allow a quick switch to local lumber production, and making those changes would likely take years.

He says California homebuilders can buy from other U.S. suppliers, but there would also be a cost increase if the state looks domestically to replace Canadian production.

January's wildfires around Los Angeles destroyed or damaged as many as 19,000 homes and other structures, which Dunmoyer says created an immediate spike in demand for new housing in the state.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump negotiated a 30-day reprieve on Monday for the 25 per cent tariff, which would have bumped Canadian softwood lumber's levies at the U.S. border to almost 40 per cent when existing duties of 14.4 per cent are taken into account.