The U.S. Commerce Department has announced new tariffs on Canadian softwood, the second set of duties imposed since April.
The Hill reports that the preliminary anti-dumping duties are as much as 7.7%. This is in addition to the department’s imposition of countervailing duties of between 3% and 24% on Canadian lumber imports, announced in April.
U.S. producers allege that Canadian softwood producers benefit from government subsidies. Canadian officials disagree.
“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, in a statement.
Some Canadian provinces are not included in the Commerce Department’s ongoing trade investigation. The department said that softwood lumber products produced in Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island should be excluded, The Hill reported.
The announcement comes just two months before the U.S. and Canada are to begin talks on revising the North American Free Trade Agreement. About 80% of Canada’s softwood exports go to the U.S. The market was worth about $5.5 billion in 2016.
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