U.S. Lumber Industry Petitioning for Duties on Exported Canadian Softwood Lumber

Engineering News Record reports that last Friday a U.S. lumber industry coalition filed a petition to the U.S. International Trade Commission and Commerce Department, seeking duties on Canadian softwood lumber exports which the group alleges are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair market prices. Canada is prepared to take a strong stand against this.

As background, Canadian lumber exports to the U.S. were governed by a mutual trade agreement from 2006 to 2015. That agreement expired in October of last year and was followed by a year-long standstill agreement, during which both countries agreed not to file lumber-trade actions against each other. Also during this time, trade officials on both sides worked on reaching a new lumber agreement but were unsuccessful. Following the expiration of the standstill agreement in October, the U.S. lumber industry group moved forward with filing their petition November 25th.