Softwood lumber dispute: Prime Minister must take action
10/02/2005 - 15:04
After years of ongoing litigation between Canada and the U.S. over softwood lumber, the BC Lumber Trade Council was pleased to hear the Honourable Michael de Jong, Minister of Forests, demand that the Government of Canada take action to ensure that the U.S. lives up to its NAFTA obligations and refunds the billions of dollars in cash deposits paid by Canadian softwood lumber producers under anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders the NAFTA Injury panel unanimously concluded should
never have been imposed.
"The U.S. regrettably has demonstrated over the course of this litigation that it does not respect the rulings of international trade panels, nor the trading relationship between our two countries," said John Allan, president of the BC Lumber Trade Council. The latest indication of this disturbing pattern is the recent announcement by Commerce that it has no intention of refunding the illegally imposed duties even if the NAFTA process is finally resolved in Canada's favor later this spring.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has given Canada the authority to impose retaliatory sanctions against the U.S. because of the illegal Byrd Amendment. The Government of Canada has now identified 128 items for retaliation.
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