New Brunswick’s wood producers are one of the Atlantic Canadian industries facing the brunt of U.S. tariffs. The industry has already been grappling with high costs and low revenue. Rick Doucett, president of the New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners, says the workers are disappointed with the escalating trade war. “It feels like we’re negotiating with a U.S. administration that’s in the middle of a nervous breakdown and it would be very difficult for any negotiating team to find a deal,” he says. This is the third round of tariffs the woodlot owners have endured, the first starting in 2016, then again in 2025. The United States is now imposing a 50 per cent tariff on a range of Canadian exports after the countries failed to reach an agreement before a deadline imposed by U.S. president Donald Trump. “Now there’s this new round, the pressure’s really on our people to try to maintain a living and stay in business,” says Doucett. Roughly 42,000 woodlot owners collectively have nearly 4.2 million acres of forested land in New Brunswick. In July, the White House released lists cataloguing the goods to be affected by the new tariffs. The lists included forestry and wood products such as: “The woodlot owners themselves, for the most part, will still be here whether tariffs come or go. The challenge is the people that work on those woodlots, the margins for making money are just not there anymore,” Doucett told CTV Your Morning Atlantic’s Crystal Garrett. He says even though the idea is U.S. consumers pay the tariff, the reality is when tariffs hit the industry, it deeply affected their margins. “In the last year and a half, we’ve probably lost about 200 jobs,” he says, noting a significant economic impact from the losses. New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says she expects the tariffs will impact $112 million in New Brunswick exports, with early estimates suggesting it will affect about 500 jobs provincewide. The federal government has announced measures aimed at supporting impacted Canadian workers, including relief packages. Doucett says he and the woodlot owners will be checking to see if the new supports “are going to make their way to those people that are probably hurting the most.” He says historically, efforts were made to support the mills. “Often that support doesn’t trickle down to the workers,” he says. For the woodlot owners, he says significant change won’t happen on its own and has to be mandated by government. “If it doesn’t work, we’re going to lose capacity and we’re going to lose more jobs,” he says. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
