Canada Set To Launch Softwood Lumber Case

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, Canada intends to launch another dispute under the U.S.-Mexico -Canada Agreement over U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties on softwood lumber.  Canada previously brought challenges under USMCA against the increased duties on Canadian softwood lumber imports.  The U.S. Commerce Department in November 2021 increased the anti-dumping and countervailing duties to 17.9% from 9%.  Based on Commerce’s latest review of the duties, the antidumping and countervailing duties rate on softwood lumber will be lowered to 8.59%.

The heart of the issue is subsidies, for example timber harvest/stumpage fees set by the Canadian federal and provincial governments, versus the commercial market as in the U.S., benefitting the Canadian lumber industry.  The subsidies have been the subject of a dispute over the last three decades.

Farm Bureau says they support a revised U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement.

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