Tentative Agreement Reached in Softwood Lumber Trade Dispute
The U.S. government and its domestic producers reached a tentative deal with the Government of Canada this weekend in the long-running dispute on softwood lumber imports from Canada. While the agreement is subject to approval by Canadian lumber interest, the current agreement provides that the antidumping and countervailing duty cases on softwood lumber from Canada will be suspended in exchange for the following:
*Canadian lumber would have a duty-free ceiling of 31.5%, which is slightly below Canada's current share of the U.S. market. If Canadian sales to the U.S. exceed that proportion of the market, a tariff of US$200 per thousand board feet of lumber would be imposed.
*US$1.6 billion antidumping and countervailing duties collected in the past 18 months would be split between Canadian and U.S. producers, with Canadians getting 52 per cent.
*The agreement would run for three years. Once the three-year term is up, Canadian provinces that move towards a more free-market forest policy could increase their duty free share by five per cent in the fourth and fifth years, if their policies are approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
|posted by Douglas N. Jacobson| Permalink 
