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US loses lumber trade fight with Canada
The United States on Wednesday lost a trade fight with Canada over lumber imports.
An arbitration court ruled that Canada had not violated the bilateral Softwood Lumber Agreement, which governs the $3 billion lumber trade between the two nations.
The case was brought by the United States in January to the London Court of International Arbitration.
The central issue involved alleged violations in British Columbia. The United States alleged that British Columbia was allowing lumber to be classified as low grade in order to allow producers to avoid paying fees. By avoiding the fees, the Canadian producers were allowed to gain an unfair advantage over U.S. producers and sell their wood to mills at an unfairly low cost.
The case has been pushed by SLA proponents like Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine).
She said the panel had only concluded that it could not establish Canadian government involvement, and had not condoned BC practices.
“The fair pricing of timber in British Columbia is in the strong interest of the United States and we will continue to monitor this closely,” she said.
“This is good news for forestry workers in British Columbia,” said Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast. He said that the panel backed up Canada’s claim that the appearance of low-value logs from Canada was due to beetle infestation.
Michaud blasted the ruling in a statement and called for a renegotiation of the SLA.
“Sawmills and lumber retailers in Maine are already struggling to keep their doors open, and this decision provides them no relief. It’s clear that we need to revisit the Softwood Lumber Agreement to make sure that it adequately protects U.S. businesses and workers from unfair trade practices," he said.
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