FREDERICTON -- New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant is heading to Washington for a meeting Wednesday with United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Jr. to talk trade.

Ross is a senior member of President Donald Trump's cabinet, and is responsible for negotiating the Softwood Lumber Agreement.

Gallant says the meeting will focus on softwood lumber and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The premier wants New Brunswick excluded from countervailing duties on softwood lumber exports to the United States.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Commerce hit Canada with an additional 6.87 per cent in preliminary average anti-dumping tariffs, leaving the industry facing average duties of about 27 per cent.

The decision exempts the other three Atlantic provinces, but New Brunswick -- exempt from such tariffs in the past -- is not exempt.

Gallant and other premiers were in Washington in early June to meet with government officials on the softwood lumber issue.