Canadian lumber

So Canada sells lumber to the US, they cut it and it goes to Home Depot, where they put it on a truck, ship it to Canada and sell it here as Canadian lumber with a few middlemen for extra cost.
Now Rump puts tariffs on Canadian lumber, so when Home Depot sells it to Canadians, it has the extra costs added on.
Why doesn't Canada cut the lumber and sell it to Home Depot locally so the Tariffs have no affect on anything?
I am thinking even if they did that Home Depot would still raise the price of lumber, just because they can get away with it.
Is lumber cheaper at Rona? Somehow I doubt it.

Top | New | Old

bowman81 · M

Last time I was in our Home Depot the dimension lumber came from Sweden. Canadians complaining about high prices need to look at Canadian tariffs. There is a reason Canadians cross the border to shop in my area.

They also flock here for diagnostic procedures like MRIs and CAT scans. Seems they can't get treatment without diagnosis and they pay to have the tests done here rather than wait for those services there.

Just observations from a border area.

beermeplease · M

@bowman81 cross border shopping/travelling is significantly down. border towns in washington state are stopping just short of begging canadians to come down and some accepting canadian dollars at par.

bowman81 · M

@beermeplease Judging from license plates it is still pretty regular in SE Michigan. I'm pretty sure there are still a lot of Michigan plates in Windsor restaurants too. There is a lot of yapping and bickering at the top in both countries but most common folks just keep doing what works for them.

There are Michiganders with vacation homes along the Lake Erie shore and Canucks with places along Lake Huron N. of Port Huron in each other's countries. Both groups seem to manage just fine.

beermeplease · M

@bowman81 land border travel for canadians in july down almost 40%. air travel down 25% over the same time last year

StygianKohlrabi · M

I understand.... um shop a lumber yard?

beermeplease · M

i didn't think canadians bought their lumber from home depot usa

Lilymoon · F

Rump has it all figured out 🤡

This comment is hidden. Show Comment

swirlie · 31-35

Only about 17% of Canada's softwood lumber ends up at Home Depot in Canada. But approximately 80% of Canada's total softwood lumber ends up in the USA where Americans pay for the export tariff from Canada to the USA, not Canadians.

Canada must pay that tariff at the border when the wood is shipped south from Canada, but then that tariff is factored into the price that Canada sells the wood for in the US, which means that Canada then gets reimbursed for that tariff they had to pay up-front at the border to the US government, which means the tariff is passed-on to the American consumer.

Anytime the US charges a tariff, that tariff is paid for by the US consumer, which means it is not absorbed by the country who exports to the US.

Home Depot is a wholly-owed American company and most of the stuff in any Home Depot in Canada was 'Made in the USA'.

RONA+ is a wholly-owned Canadian company and most of the stuff in Rona was made either in Canada or China.

The price of softwood lumber in Rona is about 25% cheaper than the same product in HomeDepot. This is because Canadian sawmills sell directly to Rona in Canada, which means that wood never crosses the border even once.

newjaninev2 · 56-60, F

Why would the lumber attract american tariffs when it leaves the US?

View 7 more replies »

kodiac · 22-25, M

@SomeMichGuy No one is starving or losing health care . Lets jump on the universal health care wagon where people die waiting for a doc appt.

SomeMichGuy · M

@kodiac

No one is starving or losing health care .

These are the obvious effects of cutting food programs and health care for the poor, or did you not get actual coverage of the big bill which the party of HUGE government pushed through?

When it takes effect, let me know how your statement holds.

Lets jump on the universal health care wagon where people die waiting for a doc appt.

We pay 2x what the NEXT-most-expensive healthcare system costs (Switzerland).

We do NOT get 2x the health care.

Waiting times are about healthcare capacity, which is being hurt more by closing accessible sites in rural areas, and by the mismanagement which is typical here of the demographic inevitability, on the backend, of the "boomer" births on the frontend.

I'd love to get rid of the overly-managed healthcare in favor of half-priced coverage which frees up a ton of forms processors to perform productive work and add even more to the economy.

SomeMichGuy · M

@kodiac

Lets jump on the universal health care wagon where people die waiting for a doc appt.

So you agree that we need to get rid of the VA medical system in favor of a military Medicare?

Add a comment...