Latest news with #U.S.DepartmentofCommerce
Epoch Times
a day ago
- Business
- Epoch Times
US Tomato Tariff on Mexico Reignites Long-Running Trade Dispute
The United States and Mexico find themselves at odds once again. This time, the issue of contention is a kitchen staple: the tomato. In July, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the termination of a 2019 agreement between the two North American countries and the imposition of a 17.09 percent tariff on most fresh tomato imports from Mexico.
Global News
2 days ago
- Business
- Global News
B.C. asks PM Carney to keep softwood on radar as tariff deadline looms
B.C. Premier David Eby says the federal government cannot forget about the fate of British Columbia's softwood lumber industry as the deadline for a trade deal between the United States and Canada is hours away. Aug. 1 is the deadline the United States has set for a trade deal with Canada, and Eby says he hopes his province's softwood lumber industry remains on the 'radar' of Prime Minister Mark Carney as Ottawa continues negotiations. 1:59 No word on Canada-U.S. trade deal progress, as Trump's deadline nears Eby told an unrelated news conference that the industry has been the 'canary in the coal mine' signalling American protectionism, saying Canadian softwood exports have been subject to 'unfair duties' for the 'better part of almost two generations,' well before the current trade dispute triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump. Story continues below advertisement But Eby says the dispute's long-standing nature does not mean the industry 'should be ignored,' and resolving it could actually help broker a larger deal. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The industry faces combined duties of 34.94 per cent, after the U.S. Department of Commerce hiked anti-dumping duties to 20.56 per cent. While other industries such as Ontario's automobile sector are important, Eby says the prolonged length of the softwood lumber dispute and pre-existing duties should not lead to the assumption that the industry is not a 'priority.'
Vancouver Sun
2 days ago
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
B.C.'s small sawmills brace for bigger hit from U.S. lumber duties
It was a scramble for Jake Power's specialty sawmill in Mission to ramp up shipments across the U.S. border before the big hit from a more than doubling of softwood lumber duties took hold as of midnight Monday. 'You can only do so much of that,' said Power, CEO of his family's firm, Power Wood. 'The customers are only willing to stock up so much. I would say our June and July were maybe 10, 20 per cent more than we would have expected without this.' Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed it would implement the first part of a dramatic increase in punitive duties on Canadian lumber producers, pushing anti-dumping duties to an average 20 per cent from eight per cent. Stay on top of the latest real estate news and home design trends. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Westcoast Homes will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Those rates vary depending on what company is involved, with West Fraser Timber paying the lowest anti-dumping rate of just under 10 per cent and Canfor Corp. paying the highest at 35 per cent. The insult added to injury for independent mills such as Power Wood that don't hold rights to harvest any of the timber that the U.S. argues is being subsidized by the province's stumpage system. So they wind up paying duties on the price of their finished products, not just the lumber that went into them, which Power said has added up. Businesses 'need capital and all the capital right now is being sucked into this challenge,' Power said. 'Then you get the knock-on effect of no one wanting to (invest) new money into an uncertain industry.' Power is hopeful he won't have to lay off workers among his workforce of around 60 people, but he expects to survive a slowdown while everyone waits out the impact of higher duties, which he expects will rise to 35 per cent when U.S. Commerce finalizes countervailing duty rates, the second part of its penalty equation. Andy Reilly's Yarrow Wood Inc. specialty mill in Chilliwack is crossing his fingers about being able to raise prices to help cover costs. 'We're lucky that we don't have a bank loan and we don't rely on the bank for a huge line of credit,' Reilly said. However, companies that do have debt payments 'probably will have to work for free and ingest some of those duty increases.' Brian Menzies, executive-director of the Independent Wood Processors Association of B.C., said many of the independent mills among its 60 members don't have deep pockets to absorb increased duties and could use help. 'I've been in the forest sector, working on and off, for 30 years. I've never seen people that own these businesses so worried,' Menzies said. 'Of course they're worrying about laying off people, because as soon as you lose people, you can't get them back.' Menzies added family owned businesses have financial considerations that bigger companies don't have, such as using their own homes as collateral to post bonds for duties. 'So you can see how scary this is.' Menzies said the help his sector of the industry needs from the federal government is access to existing credit programs that larger companies can tap. Reilly, who is also president of the Independent Wood Processors Association, said he was in Ottawa last week as part of a national delegation to press their point and the feds were receptive to their request. 'That would be something that would be very welcome for a lot of our companies,' Reilly said. The best resolution, however, would be a negotiated resolution to the whole dispute, Reilly added. So his group was encouraged by the message from Minister for Canada-U.S. Trade Dominic LeBlanc and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson that they were giving lumber the same priority as steel or aluminum in trade negotiations. 'If you're asking would you rather have a bad deal or no deal, the worst-case scenario right now for value-added companies is a 34-1/2 per cent duty on your finished wood products going across the border,' Reilly said. 'I'm pretty sure that anything they could come up with would be considerably better.' depenner@
Cision Canada
4 days ago
- Business
- Cision Canada
Unifor says Canada-U.S. softwood trade war must be resolved for the long term
TORONTO, July 28, 2025 /CNW/ - Unifor is calling on the federal government to negotiate a long-term agreement for softwood lumber exports to the United States that will avoid the rollercoaster of duties and threatened tariffs currently causing chaos in a sector that relies on long-term planning. "Tariffs are already causing damage to workers, communities and the industry. Forestry is a multi-generational industry that requires long-term planning, stability, and investment," said Unifor National President Lana Payne. "We need an urgent negotiated settlement with the United States that is fair and reasonable so that Canadian softwood producers and forestry workers can get back to producing the lumber and wood products that are needed." The U.S. Department of Commerce's final decision on July 25 to raise anti-dumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber exporters, including from 7.66% to 20.56% for most companies, will be in addition to a final decision expected on August 8 on countervailing duties. "U.S. softwood producers can only cover about 70% of demand in that country, and Canadian softwood makes up around 25% of the remaining supply—they need our lumber," said Unifor Quebec Director Daniel Cloutier. "Along with punishing Canadian softwood producers and forestry workers, these unfair and unjust duties are making housing more expensive for American homeowners." Unifor has been actively calling for a large-scale Team Canada approach to support the forestry sector across Canada and in each of its regions, including through a recent letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney. In March 2025, the White House announced a Section 232 investigation to determine the effects on national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products. Depending on the findings of that investigation, Canada could see tariffs on these products starting in November. These potential tariffs would be on top of the already unacceptable softwood duties. Read Unifor's recommendation to support forestry with an affordable home strategy here. The union has committed to defending and protecting forestry jobs through whatever means necessary. In a statement from the Unifor Forestry Council, the union vowed to "continue working with federal, provincial and municipal governments to develop economic protection and financial assistance plans, trade diversification strategies, mitigate job losses and enhance income security provisions for all workers." For more information on the union's work to Fight for Forestry Jobs, visit Unifor represents 24,000 forestry workers across 10 provinces who work in sawmills, pulp and paper plants and in wood products manufacturing. The industry remains an integral economic driver, particularly in rural areas across Canada. Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Strategic Misstep: 20 national security experts write letter to Donald Trump administration, want America to STOP sale of these Nvidia chips to China
Certain section of security experts seem quite upset with the Donald Trump administration's decision to allow sale of Nvidia H20 advanced AI chips to China again. A group of 20 national security experts and former government officials have written a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urging the Trump administration to revert its decision to allow Nvidia to resume sale of Nvidia H20 AI chips in China . As reported by Tech Crunch, the letter calls the decision a 'Strategic Misstep'. It claims that the decision will have detrimental effects on the US' AI 'edge' for both military and civilian use cases. The letter further claims that selling Nvidia H20 chips in China will worsen the existing AI chip bottleneck in the US and that these chips could be used to support China's military. This letter comes weeks after the DOC gave Nvidia the green light to start selling its AI chips in China as the trade talks between the two countries started. At the time, Lutnick called Nvidia's H20 as the company's 'fourth best' AI chip. The H20 chip reportedly sits at the center of a broader US-China trade talk standoff. Nvidia is also introducing a new 'RTX Pro' chip designed specifically for the Chinese market, calling it 'fully compliant' with regulations and ideal for digital manufacturing applications like smart factories and logistics. What the national security experts' letter says by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like This Japanese AI invention allows you to speak 68 languages instantly. The idea? Genius. Enence 2.0 Undo "The H20 is a potent accelerator of China's frontier AI capabilities, not an outdated AI chip. Designed specifically to work around export control thresholds, the H20 is optimized for inference, the process responsible for the dramatic capabilities gains made by the latest generation of frontier AI reasoning models. For inference tasks, the H20 outperforms even the H100, an AI chip this administration has restricted access to due to its advanced capabilities." "Both U.S. and Chinese AI labs are betting that further investment in inference compute will be critical to the next leap in frontier AI capabilities. On the heels of DeepSeek's breakthrough model release earlier this year, Chinese AI labs began bulk-ordering H20 chips to develop even more advanced AI models. If the U.S. backs off of export controls to China, we believe that China's next generation of frontier AI will be built on the backs of the H20," the letter added. "While the biggest buyers of Nvidia's H20 chip are nominally civilian companies in China, we fully expect the H20 and the AI models it supports to be deployed by China's People's Liberation Army." "The decision to ban H20 exports earlier this year was the right one. We ask you to stand by that principle and continue blocking the sale of advanced AI chips to China as America works to maintain its technological edge. This is not a question of trade. It is a question of national security," concludes the letter. Letter's signatories The letter's signatories include Matt Pottinger, the former deputy national security adviser during Trump's first term; Stewart Baker, the former assistant secretary of Homeland Security under George W Bush; and David Feith, a former member of the National Security Council, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Lloyd Thrall, among others. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
