The Liberal government is vowing to use all means at its disposal, including litigation, to protect Canadian lumber producers after the U.S. Department of Commerce slapped them with additional anti-dumping tariffs on Monday.
These new anti-dumping duties, which range from 4.59 per cent to 7.72 per cent, are in addition to the preliminary countervailing duties of 19.88 per cent imposed in April that are set to expire on Aug. 27. The industry now faces average duties of about 27 per cent and as high as 30.88 per cent for producers in British Columbia.
In June, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled an $867-million aid package to the Canadian forestry industry to offset the effect of American duties on Canadian softwood producers.
‘Deeply dissappointed’
Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a joint statement that they were deeply disappointed by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s decision to impose “unfair and punitive anti-dumping duties” against Canada’s softwood lumber producers.
“We will vigorously defend Canada’s softwood lumber industry, including through litigation, and we expect to prevail as we have in the past,” the ministers said.
3 Atlantic provinces excluded
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced separately that an internal investigation has determined that it was appropriate to exclude Canada’s Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador from softwood lumber duties as requested by the U.S. industry and Canadian officials.
The duties will continue to be collected until a final decision is issued later this summer.
“While I remain optimistic that we will be able to reach a negotiated solution on softwood lumber, until we do we will continue to vigorously apply the AD [anti-dumping duty] and CVD [countervailing duty] laws to stand up for American companies and their workers,” he said in a news release.
Carr and Freeland said they welcomed the exclusion for the three Atlantic provinces, but said they will continue to press their U.S. counterparts for all provinces and “would welcome a commitment by the U.S. Department of Commerce to consider an exclusion for New Brunswick.”
U.S. lumber lobby applauds duties
The U.S. lumber lobby welcomed the decision of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“We applaud the Department of Commerce’s decision to take further action against Canada’s unfair trading practices and restore fair trade for U.S. lumber producers,’ said U.S. Lumber Coalition spokesperson, Zoltan van Heyningen.
“For years, Canada has unfairly distorted the softwood lumber market with billions of dollars in support of their producers. This has allowed Canadian producers to dump their product on the U.S. market to the detriment of U.S. manufacturers, as now confirmed by the Department of Commerce.”
Room to grow for everyone
B.C. lumber producers, who account for more than half of softwood lumber produced in Canada, said they will continue to vigorously defend the industry.
“These duties result from the trade action which is part of the continued attempt by the protectionist U.S. lumber lobby to constrain imports of high-quality Canadian lumber into the U.S. market and to drive up prices for their benefit,” said Susan Yurkovich, president of the BC Lumber Trade Council.
“The ongoing allegations levelled by the U.S. industry are without merit. This was proven in the last round of litigation and we fully expect it will be the case again.”
American demand for lumber exceeds what the U.S. lumber industry currently produces, and there is enough demand in North America to grow the U.S. industry while also allowing Canadian producers to continue to supply their U.S customers, said Yurkovich.
“BC Lumber Trade Council continues to believe that reaching a new agreement is in the best interests of producers and consumers on both sides of the border and we will continue to work closely with our provincial and federal governments to support efforts to reach a new agreement,” she added.
With files from CBC News
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.