The U.S. International Trade Commission has submitted a decision to support a ruling that indicates the U.S. lumber…
The U.S. International Trade Commission has submitted a decision to support a ruling that indicates the U.S. lumber industry faces a threat of injury from Canadian softwood lumber imports. The ruling comes on the heels of a month of rejections of taxes on U.S. imports of Canadian softwood lumber in a North American Free Trade Agreement.
The NAFTA panel ruled the ITC decision was not supportable by the record. The decision has been remanded twice in the past six months. “We continue to believe that there has been no legal or substantive basis for the ITC or the Commerce Department to slap import duties on Canadian softwood lumber that is essential to our domestic housing need,” said Susan Petniunas, spokesperson for the American Consumers for Affordable Homes. “The two ITC demands, along with other panel decisions rejecting U.S. Commerce Department duty calculation methods clearly say that the cases are flawed, and the trade action illegal under U.S. law and international trade agreements,” she continued.
Over 100 bi-partisan members of the U.S. senate and House of Representatives have called on the Bush administration over the past three years to end its challenge to Canada and not impose and export taxes, duties or quotas on lumber crucial to its economy.
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