VICTORIA – Premier Christy Clark called a special cabinet meeting today to help map British Columbia’s approach to reaching a new softwood lumber trade agreement with the United States.
Canada’s ambassador to the United States, David McNaughton, and David Emerson, B.C.’s new trade envoy on the softwood file, were both invited to the cabinet briefing.
Clark says they need a new softwood agreement that protects the jobs of thousands of British Columbians employed in the province’s forest industry.
The United States is B.C.’s largest customer for lumber exports.
Clark says it appears the new Donald Trump administration is showing more of an appetite to negotiate a new softwood deal than the previous government.
The softwood lumber agreement between the two countries expired a year ago.
Comments