TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th November, 2020) Ontario is vowing to fight what it calls are unjust levies on Canadian lumber exports to the United States a day after the US Commerce Department lowered duties on wood products, the Canadian province's natural resource and economic development ministers said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce lowered the duty on Canadian lumber imports from 20.2 percent to 8.9 percent following an administrative review.
"While the US Department of Commerce has reduced duty deposit rates for many in the Canadian softwood lumber industry, we firmly believe that any rates of this sort are unfair and unjustified," the statement said.
Ministers John Yakabuski and Vic Fedeli said in the statement that they will continue to work closely with the industry, the provinces and the Federal government, using all available avenues to fight unfair rates on Canadian softwood lumber.
Canada and the United States have been at odds over lumber duties for decades, including by filing claims through the World Trade Organization (WTO). In 2006, the two sides reached a settlement under which the United States agreed to suspend lumber duties. The deal expired in 2015 and the Trump administration has subsequently imposed new tariffs on Canadian lumber.
The WTO largely sided with Canada in the dispute in August, citing the United States' failure to prove that the price of exported lumber was artificially low due to provincial government subsidies.
