California homebuilders say they will have few options but to keep buying Canadian lumber even if it鈥檚 hit with 25 per cent tariffs as they rebuild thousands of homes destroyed by devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
Dan Dunmoyer, president of the California Building Industry Association, says 鈥渢here aren鈥檛 really alternatives鈥� to Canadian lumber used for homebuilding in the state because about 80 per cent of Californian land is owned by federal or state government and can鈥檛 be logged.
Dunmoyer says California also lacks mills, environmental policies and other ecosystem needs that would allow a quick switch to local lumber production, and making those changes would likely take years.
He says California homebuilders can buy from other U.S. suppliers, but there would also be a cost increase if the state looks domestically to replace Canadian production.
January鈥檚 wildfires around Los Angeles destroyed or damaged as many as 19,000 homes and other structures, which Dunmoyer says created an immediate spike in demand for new housing in the state.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump negotiated a 30-day reprieve on Monday for the 25 per cent tariff, which would have bumped Canadian softwood lumber鈥檚 levies at the U.S. border to almost 40 per cent when existing duties of 14.4 per cent are taken into account.
