Canada, U.S. at loggerheads again over lumber

By Gordon Hamilton

Business in Vancouver

With less than a year to go until the Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement expires, lines are being drawn on both sides of the border over the future of lumber trade between the two countries. Canadian producers say they want to extend the agreement, which has brought an uneasy peace to the decades-long lumber war since it was signed in 2006, but their U.S. counterparts say they won’t sign on again. The U.S. Lumber Coalition, a lobby group representing American lumber companies and timber owners, said last week it’s not going to renew the agreement when it expires next October. It has expressed its anti-deal position to the U.S. government but it has yet to say publicly what it intends to do. …Washington, D.C., trade lawyer Elliot Feldman said the future is not promising for those wanting softwood peace.

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