Ottawa has officially launched a new challenge against higher duties imposed on Canadian lumber imported into the U.S., the latest salvo in a decades long trade dispute.
The challenge has been filed under the new North American free trade agreement, which was renewed in 2020 after a lengthy series of negotiations between Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
Last month (November), the U.S. government nearly doubled the tariffs collected on Canadian lumber imports. The U.S. lumber industry continues to argue that Canada’s system of allocating timber cutting rights amounts to government subsidies for the Canadian industry.
The federal government in Ottawa has always refuted the American claims and argued that tariffs on Canadian wood ultimately hurt American homebuyers.
Federal Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement that she expects Canada to be successful in its challenge, as it has been in previous challenges to what she calls “unwarranted duties” on Canadian lumber.
Ng said the federal government remains interested in negotiating a settlement to the trade issue, but decided to go the route of a trade challenge in the absence of any movement on the part of the U.S. government.
