British Columbia’s government said Monday that it is opening a “forest trade office” in London, U.K., in an effort to boost exports to Europe.
The announcement comes as U.S. fees, including duties and tariffs, on Canadian forest products reached 45 per cent earlier this month.
“With U.S. President Donald Trump’s continued attacks on our forestry workers and economy, we are not sitting idly by,” Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar said in a written release.
Crown Corporation Forestry Innovation Investment will open an office in the U.K. which will provide a stronger foothold for sales into Europe and eventually the Middle East and North Africa, according to the province.
The agency already has offices in China, India and Vietnam, as well as a presence in Japan and South Korea.
B.C. will run anti-tariff ads in some U.S. states in November, despite President Donald Trump saying he will terminate trade negotiations with Canada over similar ads out of Ontario. B.C. economic growth minister Ravi Kahlon said “speaking directly to U.S. citizens is important.”
According to the most recently published data, for June 2025, the U.S. remains the leading market for B.C. forest exports, with a value of more than $3.3 billion. It is followed by China at $1.2 billion and Japan at $359 million while all other markets combined made up $722 million.
The impact of weakened sales into the U.S. due to tariffs and rising duties on softwood, on top of falling access to fibre supply, has led to widespread job losses and curtailments, with businesses saying they are in need of support.
Anti-tariff ads coming in November
The provincial government also said it will be running anti-tariff ads online targeted at American consumers and focused on the forest industry — despite Trump’s apparent anger at similar ads from Ontario being aired during World Series games in the United States.
On Friday, after Trump announced an additional 10 per cent tariff on Canadian goods because of the ad, B.C. Premier David Eby posted a defence of the strategy on social media.
“Americans need to hear how tariffs raise prices. We’re making ads to defend British Columbia and Canada’s forestry workers,” he wrote in one post, followed by another stating, “It’s important for us to speak directly to Americans looking to build [a] home or renovate. How much this work costs are going up – because Donald Trump has slapped additional tariffs on top of already unfair softwood duties.”
Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s minister of economic growth, told CBC News that unlike Ontario’s commercials, which ran on television, B.C.’s will be online only. They will be unveiled sometime in November.
