The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that hefty U.S. duties could be
slapped on Canadian timber
exports to the United States by
early 2017 after a one-year standstill
period expired on Wednesday. The Globe's Steven Chase writes that this week marked 12 months
since a nine-year truce in the Canada-U.S. softwood
conflict ended -- with Ottawa and Washington
unable to clinch a successor
pact.
This failure to agree
means a costly and frustrating
new season ahead for Canadian
timber firms, which can
expect to pay hundreds of millions
of dollars to the U.S.
government in order to keep
shipping their product south.
The U.S. lumber lobby behind
the dispute with Canada -- it alleges
provinces subsidize companies
through below-market
stumpage rates -- now says it has
"no choice" but to launch a
trade challenge with the American
government.
Under the U.S. system, preliminary
duties can be levied on Canadian
softwood imports into
the United States six months
after an unfair trading case is
commenced with the Department
of Commerce, and tariffs
stay in place while American
bureaucrats investigate the allegations. They can also be retroactively
applied for up to 90
days.
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