Ottawa will offer $ 1.2 billion to help businesses in the forest industry to better manage the potential damage to Trump administration prices. Quebec is delighted, but hopes that money will arrive quickly.
This aid will be divided into two components: $ 700 million in guaranteed loans initially to ensure access to liquidity, then $ 500 million to help the diversification of wood products.
“Even if we will continue to work with the United States on the many mutually advantageous opportunities for trade and investment, it is clear that for our prosperity, we cannot count on what was the most precious commercial relationship,” said Mark Carney at a press conference in Kelowna, British Columbia on Tuesday.
Under pressure
Like steel, aluminum and other raw materials, Donald Trump has in his sights, which he considers a “strategic sector” for his country.
At the end of July, the United States Department of Commerce announced that it would increase “anti-dumping” rights on Canadian wood wood by around 20%, which would increase customs duties to 34%.
Canada is the second producer of wooded timber in the world, and Quebec has for almost a third of the total volume. About 70% of Canadian exports are intended for the American market.
Quebec is delighted
The announcement delighted the Quebec Minister for Natural Resources and Forests, Maïtée Blanchette Vézina.
“Now, federal money must arrive quickly on the ground. And it is necessary, once and for all, to settle the conflict on the pricing prices, ”she said.
Financial aid in the forest sector was one of the battle horses of the Bloc Québécois in the last electoral campaign.
Chef Yves-François Blanchet is “not pale”, but “happy” that Ottawa answered the call. However, he judges the amounts suggested in guaranteed loans clearly insufficient for an industry so omnipresent in the country.
“It is not up to the needs of the industry, and it [Carney] Can be more without it cost us more, ”said Mr. Blanchet in an interview.
More wood used here
Mark Carney added that there would be “initiatives” to grow the potential international wood market, especially towards Asia. To do this, Canada intends to emphasize the “eco -responsible” nature of wood.
Carney said that he intended to enhance the use of Canadian wood in a host of contexts in order to energize industry, whether in the construction of houses or for major infrastructure projects that he intends to start in the coming years.
The United States and Canada have been knives drawn from the matter of wood since the early 1980s.
Minister Blanchette Vézina wants Ottawa to take advantage of current negotiations to end this conflict once and for all.
