Canada's Trudeau responds to lumber tariffs imposed by the U.S.

The industry has been struggling in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Ross replied: "They're generally a good neighbour".

American Enterprise Institute scholar Derek Scissors said it was too early to dismiss the prospect of Mr Trump engaging in a broader trade conflict and predicted harsher USA actions awaited China and other trading partners.

Swick has represented clients in numerous government contracting disputes. "So the cost of housing will go up to some extent", he said.

NAFTA should be replaced with a new Fair Trade agreement, one that ensures farmers receive prices that, at a minimum, meet their costs of production plus a living wage.

"The duties are an essential step to make sure we don't lose more jobs", said Zoltan van Heyningen, executive director of the U.S. Lumber Association. US lumber companies started alleging in the 1980s that Canadian companies have been unfairly subsidized by their government. Customs enforcement is also becoming stricter.

"You can not thicken this border without hurting people on both sides of it", he said.

Meanwhile, Walker, one of the more conservative governors in the country, recently joined Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of NY in writing a letter to Trump urging him to take up the cause.

"We have a very outstanding trade relationship with Canada".

"Today's ruling confirms that Canadian lumber mills are subsidized by their government and benefit from lumber pricing policies", Cameron Krauss, legal chair for the U.S. Lumber Coalition, said in a statement.

The "Hire American" focuses on guest worker programs, particularly, the H-1B visas for highly skilled workers.

This is not a new area of dispute between the two countries and follows a fight over a new Canadian milk policy that USA producers say violates the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Interfor Corp. CEO Duncan Davies said the tariff is an attempt by the U.S.to gain leverage in negotiations. Dattu says there are "clear signals" those rules are going to change.

Ross said he didn't think the disputes would spark a trade war between the nations.

"This issue hits home for American consumers, literally".

The move also follows complaints from USA dairy farmers about a recent decision by Canada to change the way tariffs apply to some milk products. That would be the case for non-government as well as government purchases.

As a candidate, Trump had vowed to declare China a currency manipulator and to rewrite or withdraw from the North America Free Trade Agreement because, he said, so many American factories had moved jobs to Mexico to exploit low-wage labor. Dozens of farmers in Wisconsin and NY have said the Canadian milk-pricing policy has negatively affected them and eliminated millions of dollars' worth of access to the Canadian market. President George W. Bush and President Obama both put temporary tariffs on Canadian lumber.

"For us, (U.S. tariffs are) a negative effect on our Canadian business, but the real loser in all of this is the USA homebuilder and USA consumer, who is looking for reasonably priced product".

There are now strong disincentives for a U.S company to use Canadian supplier.

Canadian producers say they're confident that US buyers will have to keep buying their lumber, even with the higher prices.

On Tuesday, a Wisconsin state official said about half the state's farms affected by Canada's move had found new buyers for their milk or have promising leads. "Numerous infrastructure projects the federal government funds for states such as highways require a certain amount of USA content", he says.