Softwood duties backfiring

WINNIPEG — U.S. tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber, designed to protect the lumber industry south of the border, have instead driven up costs for American consumers to the profit of Canadian producers, Bloomberg reports. Shares of Canfor and West Fraser Timber have risen amid high demand for Canadian softwood, boosted by rebuilding efforts during the hurricane season in the southeastern U.S. “Prices have gone up and the U.S. market has absorbed the prices,” said Quebec premier Philippe Couillard in an interview last week, adding that in Canada “not a single worker has been laid off, not a single plant has been closed.”