18 October 2004

U.S. to challenge Nafta lumber decision

The following article is excerpted from the 18 October 2004 edition of “The Journal of Commerce”.

The Bush Administration will challenge a decision by a North American Free Trade Agreement panel that imports of Canadian softwood lumber pose no threat to U.S. lumber producers.

According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the White House will file a rare "extraordinary challenge" to the August ruling by the special NAFTA panel of one Canadian and two Americans judged saying that Washington had failed to justify placing tariffs averaging 27 percent on Canadian lumber imports since 2002. The panel ordered that the tariffs be rescinded immediately.

The U.S. has collected about $2.6 billion in countervailing and anti-dumping duties on softwood imports from Canada, which currently supplies more than one-third of all the softwood lumber used primarily in home construction in the U.S., according to the Commerce Department. Last month, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) voted to comply with the NAFTA ruling, although the USITC said that it disagreed with the finding. Canada's Minister of International Trade, Jim Peterson, said the U.S. action to appeal the ruling "was not unexpected." ….