Senators urge resolution of US, Canada softwood lumber deal

A bipartisan group of senators is urging President Obama to encourage Canada to forge an agreement on a new softwood lumber trade deal.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), along with 21 other senators, said they are disappointed that Canada seems reluctant to follow through with completing a deal, further undermining U.S. efforts to notch a final pact.

{mosads}“We urge you to encourage Canada to fulfill Prime Minister [Justin] Trudeau’s commitment as contained in the joint statement and bring the negotiations process to successful conclusion with a new, stable and sustainable agreement,” the senators wrote in a letter to the president on Friday. 

In late June, Obama and Trudeau agreed to complete a new agreement that would address the problem of subsidized Canadian lumber imported into the United States.

“We are concerned, however, that since you and Prime Minister Trudeau announced this shared goal the Canadian government has been unwilling to put forth or seriously consider proposals consistent with that statement,” the lawmakers wrote.

The two leaders agreed that Canadian exports should be held at or below an agreed U.S. market share that the nations would negotiate in an effort to satisfy both sides.

“Only this type of agreement will allow U.S. lumber mills the opportunity to compete fairly in our own market and to make the investments necessary to grow the domestic industry to its natural levels of production and employment,” they wrote in the letter. 

Without an agreement, the United States could launch antidumping trade cases against Canada that could hit lumber imports by the spring. 

“That is why we will continue to urge you, and any future administration, to seek a fair, effective, and sustainable agreement with Canada on softwood lumber trade, and in the absence of such an agreement, to fully enforce U.S. trade laws,” they wrote.

The lawmakers argue that hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs and thousands of rural communities depend on fair trade in softwood lumber.  

Under the terms of the expired 2006 agreement on softwood lumber, the U.S. industry was precluded from filing new antidumping and countervailing duty cases until just recently, after Oct. 12, a year after the expiration of that agreement.  

“If an agreement cannot be reached with the Canadian government that is fully consistent with these principles and the U.S. lumber industry exercises its rights to file new trade cases, the U.S. trade laws must be fully enforced to respond to subsidized and dumped Canadian lumber imports,” they wrote.