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Canadian PM responds to lumber tariffs imposed by the US

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Softwood lumber is unloaded at Murray Brothers Lumber Company woodlot in Madawaska, Ontario on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. The upper Midwest timber industry is welcoming the Trump administration's announcement that it's imposing tariffs averaging 20 percent on softwood lumber entering the United States from Canada. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP) (The Associated Press)

Softwood lumber is unloaded at Murray Brothers Lumber Company woodlot in Madawaska, Ontario on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. The upper Midwest timber industry is welcoming the Trump administration's announcement that it's imposing tariffs averaging 20 percent on softwood lumber entering the United States from Canada. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP) (The Associated Press)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada and the U.S. could suffer from a "thickening" border a day after the Trump administration imposed new tariffs on softwood lumber and trade tensions between the two countries escalated.

Trudeau responded Tuesday to news that the U.S. plans to impose a 20-percent tariff on softwood lumber entering the United States from Canada.

Canada's Liberal Party leader says the two countries are economically interconnected, but it's not a one-way relationship. He says millions of U.S. jobs depend on smooth flow of goods, services and people back and forth across the border.

The U.S. and Canada typically enjoy a friendly trading relationship, but things have soured in recent months as the two countries and Mexico prepare to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.