Softwood Lumber

A Perspective from the Financial Post

The granddaddy of all Canadian-U.S. trade disputes is about to rear its ugly head again

Financial Post

A recent dispute over “country of origin labelling” for meat products underscores the fact that Canada and the U.S. still have their share of trade disputes. Yet lurking in the background is a massive trade issue that you haven’t heard about for a while: softwood lumber, the granddaddy of all Canadian-U.S. trade disputes. Canada exported $7.4-billion worth of lumber in 2013, the highest amount since 2006. The United States is the destination for the bulk of that wood, and U.S. lumber producers have for decades demanded the U.S. government collect tariffs on Canadian lumber. After decades of dispute, Canada and the U.S. agreed to a nine-year truce in 2006. Under the agreement, the U.S. agreed to return more than $5-billion in duties collected from Canadian lumber companies, and a ceasefire in trade litigation.

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