Timber: US forced to revise tariffs

A binational committee of the NAFTA Secretariat is giving the United States three months to reconsider tariffs on imports of Canadian lumber.

The five members of the committee, which includes Canadian and US officials, concluded that there is no evidence that the Canadian softwood lumber industry is hurting US producers.

The most recent softwood lumber trade agreement between the two countries came to an end in the middle of the last federal election campaign in 2015. About 18 months later, the United States imposed new tariffs on many products. from its northern border, claiming that Canada was unfairly subsidizing its lumber producers by requiring a presumed lower than fair value price on tree cuts from Crown lands. Canada has filed complaints under the NAFTA provisions for the settlement of trade disputes and the World Trade Organization.

We rejoiced in Quebec City. "This decision is great news for Quebec's forestry sector and its workers, which are of fundamental importance to our economy," said Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of the Economy and Innovation. "We will continue to work closely with the federal government and other Canadian provinces to ensure that US authorities comply with the Panel's decision. We call on the United States to take advantage of this decision in order to put an end to this dispute and to remove the countervailing and anti-dumping duties that have been harming our trade relations since 2017. "

Canada's softwood lumber industry is in a difficult period, with many mill closures resulting in significant job losses due to US tariffs and falling prices due to lower international demand, to which is added a loss of resources caused by forest fires and pest infestations.

In November 2016, the U.S. Lumber Coalition filed a complaint with the United States Department of Commerce (DOC). It considered that it had been the victim of unfair competition from the Canadian industry and had requested the imposition of countervailing and anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber products imported from Canada. In 2017, the DOC ordered the imposition of countervailing and anti-dumping duties of up to an average rate of 20.23% on Canadian softwood lumber.

With Le Devoir