Canada withdrew challenges against some import taxes the US levied against softwood lumber in what the government called a \u201cstrategic choice,\u201d as Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks a trade deal with President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
The government has revoked two separate claims disputing US anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber based on trading between June 2017 and December 2019, according to Canada\u2019s Global Affairs department.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada has made this decision in close consultation with Canadian industry, provinces and key partners, and it reflects a strategic choice to maximize long-term interests and prospects for a negotiated resolution with the United States,\u201d spokesperson John Babcock said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada continues to strongly believe that US anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber are unfair, unjustified and inconsistent with US law,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The US has collected billions of dollars in anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood \u2014 and continues to do so \u2014 alleging that the products are unfairly subsidized by governments. The neighbors have feuded over softwood lumber since the 1980s, and legal disputes are still going over more recently imposed duties.<\/p>\n
But the move follows a pattern of Carney\u2019s government trying to remove so-called trade irritants in pursuit of a wider settlement with the Trump administration, which has erected tariffs against key Canadian industries like steel and autos, as well as a 35% \u201cemergency\u201d tariff against other goods if they aren\u2019t compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.<\/p>\n
In June, Carney scrapped a digital services tax that had prompted a threat from Trump to terminate trade talks, and removed Canada\u2019s retaliatory tariffs on US goods that comply with USMCA. Parties are now preparing to review that accord next year.<\/p>\n
The US Lumber Coalition, an industry group that lobbies for the duties against competing Canadian wood, said on Sept. 16 that the end of one of the appeals means Canadian lumber producers \u201cwill now owe US taxpayers an additional estimated $236 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to actively pursue other challenges with respect to US duties and engage with the US administration to find a mutually beneficial negotiated outcome,\u201d said Kurt Niquidet, president of the BC Lumber Trade Council, which represents the industry in British Columbia, the Canadian province with the largest softwood exports.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[3313,3510,3432],"class_list":["post-96728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news","tag-canada","tag-lumber-duties","tag-softwood-lumber","topic-forestry","topic-lumber","topic-sawmilling","topic-wood-products","area-global","area-north-america"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n