For British Columbia’s sawmills, China has become more than just a booming market. By persuading customers across the Pacific to build houses, schools and even apartment buildings out of wood instead of cement, the Canadians are realising a long-held dream: to shake off their dependence on the fickle and protectionist US.

China’s importance was underlined last month when the Obama administration sought arbitration over a US claim that the BC government unfairly subsidised sales of diseased logs from provincially owned forests. The complaint came on the heels of a separate ruling that Canada must impose almost C$60m ($59.8m) in new taxes on lumber exports to the US to offset other illegal subsidies.

But thanks to the surge in sales to China, Pat Bell, BC’s forestry minister, says he is less worried about such disputes than he used to be. “I foresee a time in the not-so-distant future when it isn’t a case of the Americans trying to constrain the amount of lumber we’re shipping,” Mr Bell said. “It’s a case of them wanting more.”