Information released on the impact of potential tariffs on New Brunswick’s forestry sector
For immediate release: Tuesday, February 4, 2025
New Brunswick – In response to questions about the impact of potential 25 per cent tariffs imposed by the U.S. government on Canadian goods including lumber and forest products, the New Brunswick Lumber Producers, Forest NB and J.D. Irving, Limited is releasing the following information about the forestry sector in New Brunswick as context for media following this story:
The forestry sector is the number one contributor to the province’s economy. It is increasingly up against fierce headwinds. Softwood lumber producers already face punitive and unjustified countervailing and anti-dumping duties averaging over 14 per cent. An additional 25 per cent tariff would have severe impacts on the entire forest sector of New Brunswick. More than 80 per cent of New Brunswick’s forest products exports cross the US border and include softwood and hardwood lumber, pulp and paper products, shingles, fibre and oriented strandboard, and even Christmas trees. For US customers, tariffs will lead to higher prices and could lead to fewer choices for Canadian forest products.
The New Brunswick context
In a province where seven in 10 municipalities are home to at least one forestry business, you would be hard pressed to find a New Brunswicker not impacted by the sector. In every corner of the province, forestry employs 24,000 New Brunswickers, many of these in rural communities. It’s the backbone of the provincial economy, representing $2.8 billion in provincial exports and $1.4 billion in employment income. And because New Brunswick’s supply and value chains are uniquely integrated, any impacts ripple across the entire sector and beyond, with hundreds of other businesses depending on the household income from good paying forestry jobs.
A history of trade partnerships
New Brunswick has a long history of trade partnerships with the eastern United States, supplying a diverse set of high-quality forest products and supporting thousands of businesses big and small. Between New Brunswick and Maine in particular, this integration predates Confederation, with a history of a cross-border collaboration. We are each other’s friends and neighbours. Today, many companies in New Brunswick’s forestry sector have businesses and employees on both sides of the border, spurring both economies.
The competitive advantage of Canadian forest products We’re aware the United States has a shortfall of its own lumber. A recent Globe and Mail report sets Canadian lumber at filling almost a quarter of American lumber needs.
The reason is clear: Canadian lumber can reach American markets swiftly and efficiently, using already existing processes and partnerships.
We should be working together to strengthen existing relationships. A 25 per cent tariff forces Canadian companies to raise their lumber prices, disrupting a deeply integrated supply chain. This in turn will drive up housing costs and the prices of other forest-based products, hurting the pocketbooks of everyday Americans.
Across other forest product segments, tariffs will not result in U.S. domestic investment in pulp and paper or value-added wood products, they will only serve to upend a supply chain balance that has taken decades to establish
Make no mistake: These new tariffs will create significant, wide-reaching impacts for New Brunswick’s forestry sector to contend with. And its impacts on the New Brunswick economy cannot be understated.
In these challenging times, we will continue to work as a united front: elected officials, industry partners and the more than 20,000 dedicated men and women who make up the industry across the province.”
Forest NB is a non-profit industry association representing the forest products sector in dealings with government and the public. Our members manufacture diverse products from renewable forest resources including pulp, paper, solid wood, pellets, composite panels, specialty products, and much more.
J.D. Irving, Limited has been committed to developing and delivering quality products and services since it was founded in 1882. With head offices in Saint John and Moncton, New Brunswick, the diverse, family owned company contributes to eight business sectors including forestry and forest products.
The New Brunswick Lumber Producers (NBLP) are an integral part of NB’s forest value chain, operating in 15 rural communities and representing 95 per cent of the softwood lumber production in the province. The NBLP are the largest wood buyers for the local private woodlot owners, supporting thousands of mill employees, professional loggers, truckers and silviculture workers, in all regions of New Brunswick. The NBLP are also the largest supplier of wood chips, biomass and sawdust, which are the key ingredients in the manufacturing of New Brunswick pulp, paper and wood pellet products.
