At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Donald Trump said Canadian lumber imports are partially to blame for California’s devastating wildfire season. He says the lumber laying on the forest floor is what burned, and they shouldn’t be importing more of it from a different country.
READ MORE: Trump links Canadian lumber imports to deadly California wildfires
B.C.’s Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development, Doug Donaldson says Trump’s comments are just not true.
“The fire situation in California is drastic but it has no linkage to the imports of our lumber.”
Donaldson adds this is “classic Trump.”
“Oftentimes, these comments defy logic and there’s no basis to those comments.”
READ MORE: Here’s how Canada’s new tariffs on U.S. imports could impact your weekly shopping bill
The U.S. applied a tariff to Canadian lumber, meaning that American citizens must pay a duty to the U.S. government on top of its purchase price.