Plywood and certain packaging materials are among the products that will no longer face the 50% tariff, effective Oct. 30.

U.S. President Donad Trump is reworking the scope of the 50% tariffs he imposed on a slew of Canada imports as part of a back-and-forth trade war between the two countries.

Starting Oct. 30, the tariffs will no longer cover a range of goods that were previously impacted, including plywood, certain industrial machinery, and select packaging and paper materials, per a proclamation Trump signed Friday. Meanwhile, a bevy of other imports will now be subject to the levies, including cocoa powder, carpets and air conditioners.

American importers of Canadian birch, walnut, and other hardwood plywood will no longer pay a 50 per cent tariff, with seven plywood lines among the 22 coming off the list. That is according to the White House, which said on Friday that US President Donald Trump had put MDF no thicker than 5 mm and engineered flooring in their place.

“The modified Section 338 tariffs will continue to safeguard American workers from Canada’s discriminatory or unreasonable and unequal practices,” the White House said in a fact sheet released alongside the proclamation. The changes take effect this Friday, four days before Americans vote in the midterm elections.

Hardwood-faced plywood of any overall thickness comes off, with the seven lines covering panels built solely from plies no thicker than 6 mm each. The World Customs Organization sets that 6 mm limit on each ply rather than on the panel, with clear-finished and opaque-coated panels both coming off the list.

High-density fibreboard goes on alongside the thin MDF, whilst the flooring line covers engineered panels with a face ply no thicker than 6 mm. The rest range from wooden packing boxes and bamboo joinery to wooden coffins and ice-cream sticks, along with softwood continuously shaped along its ends.

Timber and lumber escaped the levy when Trump first invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act in July, marking the first use of the provision in its 96-year history. Derek Nighbor, chief executive of the Forest Products Association of Canada, said the 98 forestry tariff lines on that first list were “a direct assault on our sector and on our workers here in Canada”.

“Canada stands ready to work constructively and in good faith toward a more mutually beneficial trading relationship that respects Canada’s interests,” said Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for trade with the US, on Friday. Canada answered Trump’s first list with counter-tariffs of its own in September, and LeBlanc said Ottawa was assessing the latest changes.
 
Source: supplychaindive.com