White House mocks MSNBC's Chris Matthews after his on-air rant against Trump's tariffs on Canada

WASHINGTON, DC: The White House mocked MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Wednesday, April 9, after the political commentator's rant against President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada.

The US seems to be increasing the duties on Canadian softwood lumber to 34.45 percent, which would put more pressure on US materials costs, per CNBC.

White House mocks MSNBC's Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews ranted on-air, "What are we going to do? Have more lumber made in the United States now?! What is our plan now? Oh we're not going to import wood so we're going to make more wood?"

He continued, "Are we going to make more wood in this country because of our trade deal?! I don't think so!"

After his rant, White House Principal Deputy Communications Director Alex Pfeiffer took a subtle jab at the political commentator by sharing his rant on X and captioning it "Yes".

Similarly, Trump's rapid response account on X shared a screenshot of Trump's plan to expand American timber production and wrote, "That’s the idea".

Notably, Trump signed an executive order on March 1, directing the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to expand timber production on federal lands, according to Daily Mail.

Interestingly, the POTUS' action drew immediate support from the American Forest Resource Council.

AFRC President Travis Joseph praised Trump's decision and said, "These are common sense directives Americans support and want from their Federal government, which owns about 30 percent of our nation's forests."

Around 30 percent of softwood lumber is imported into the US, but Trump is exploring raising tariffs on softwood lumber coming from Canada from 14.4 percent to 34.45 percent.

According to CNBC, Trump has threatened, but not yet imposed, further import taxes on lumber.

Moreover, the POTUS has ordered a national security investigation into US imports of wood and has said the US doesn’t need Canada's.

However, US homebuilders have warned that higher tariffs will only drive up the cost of new housing.

Interestingly, the current duties are due to a trade dispute between Canada and the US that has been taking place for decades, CNBC reported.

The US claims that Canadian sawmills are subsidized as forests north of the border are mostly owned by provincial governments, which they allege set low fees, known as "stumpage" rates, to undercut the market, but Canada has denied this.

Donald Trump announces 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs

President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause for countries hit by higher US tariffs on Wednesday, April 9, but increased tariffs on goods from China to 125%, according to BBC.

Trump accused Beijing of a "lack of respect" after it retaliated by saying it would impose tariffs of 84% on US imports.

The POTUS said he was authorizing a universal "lowered reciprocal tariff of 10 percent" just hours after new levies took effect against about 60 of the US' trading partners.

Trump's decision comes a week after he announced import taxes on all goods entering the US. His plan has set a baseline tariff of 10 percent on all imports but also higher rates on partners the White House described as the "worst offenders".