A North American Free Trade Agreement panel has upheld the latest U.S. lumber industry trade complaint against Canadian softwood lumber, but there are other rounds ahead, a B.C. forest industry leader says.

In a May 22 ruling, the NAFTA panel reviewed the U.S. International Trade CommissionB次元官网网址檚 determination of B次元官网网址渋njuryB次元官网网址� to U.S. lumber trade from Canadian lumber, in the latest of a decades-long series of trade and legal actions brought by U.S. forest industry representatives.

B.C. Council of Forest Industries president Susan Yurkovich, who also leads the B.C. Lumber Trade Council, said the B次元官网网址渦nsupportable decisionB次元官网网址� doesnB次元官网网址檛 change CanadaB次元官网网址檚 position.

B次元官网网址淓ven with todayB次元官网网址檚 decision affirming the USITC remand determination on injury, the Canadian parties still have pending World Trade Organization and NAFTA challenges to the Department of CommerceB次元官网网址檚 underlying countervailing duty and anti-dumping duty determinations that have yet to be resolved,B次元官网网址� Yurkovich said in a statement.

B次元官网网址淲e are confident that those proceedings will yield favourable results as they have done in the past, and the duties ultimately will be ruled to be unwarranted.B次元官网网址�

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In a preliminary finding in February, the U.S. Commerce Department determined that the current countervailing and anti-dumping penalties should be reduced by half, but that isnB次元官网网址檛 expected to be final until late this summer.

B.C. is the largest Canadian exporter of softwood lumber to the U.S., accounting for half of CanadaB次元官网网址檚 sales when market conditions are normal.

tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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