prime minister Mark Carney announces additional assistance for patients lumber and steel industry on Wednesday afternoon, including additional money for softwood lumber producers and further restrictions on some foreign steel imports as companies cope with the fallout trade war with the US
A senior government source told Global News that Carney would add an additional $500 million to the Softwood Lumber Program, giving companies access to government-backed loans. The total value of money available to softwood companies will now be $1.2 billion.
Lumber producers in British Columbia and the Maritimes have been hit by U.S. tariffs and tariffs that can exceed 45 percent.
Foreign steel import quotas will be cut from 50 per cent to 20 per cent of 2024 import levels for countries that do not have a free trade agreement with Canada.
This is the second quota cut announced by the Carney government for non-free trade countries, and the measure is mainly aimed at reducing Chinese steel imports.
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Steel quotas in countries with which Canada has free trade agreements will also be eliminated, but the details of the move are unclear.
Ottawa will also subsidize the cost of transporting Canadian steel and lumber domestically by 50 percent. Carney will announce that the federal government will directly pay shipping companies half the cost of transporting these goods within Canada.
The Liberals will also introduce additional “Buy Canadian” rules, a key campaign promise during the April election.
Details of the announcement were first reported by The Toronto Star.
The Carney government has made multiple announcements to help the steel and logging sectors, including a $1.25 billion support package for the softwood lumber industry announced in August.
Carney's main message during the spring election was focused on being able to deal with Donald Trump and quickly reach a deal with the US president, but nine months later, Canada and the US still have not reached any trade agreement.
The Prime Minister's Office confirmed to Global News that Carney is considering traveling to Washington for the World Cup draw on December 5, which would be a potential opportunity for Carney to meet Trump in person.
Trade negotiations were dropped in October after Trump took issue with an ad the Ontario government ran on US television. which featured clips of former President Ronald Reagan criticizing the tariffs.
Both the prime minister and US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said the two sides were very close to an agreement on some trade aspects before talks broke down.
