The softwood saga continues

[Said1]

Canada looks to retaliate against U.S. on softwood, B.C. backs move

Steve Mertl, Canadian Press

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

VANCOUVER (CP) -- The federal government will ask the World Trade Organization for authority to retaliate against at least $4.1 billion in U.S. imports over American non-compliance with WTO rulings on softwood lumber.

Government officials said Wednesday the Department of International Trade will apply Feb. 14 to the WTO to set up a compliance panel after the trade body ruled last year that Canadian lumber imports pose no threat of injury to American producers.

The request for authority to retaliate will be filed at the same time to preserve Canada's rights if the panel finds the United States hasn't abided by the WTO's ruling and rescinded punitive import duties levied on Canadian lumber.

The unprecedented dollar figure represents the total amount of countervailing and anti-dumping duties collected since the tariffs were imposed in May 2002 after the U.S. Commerce Department ruled Canadian lumber imports were being subsidized unfairly by provincial forestry policies.

"We're looking for authority to retaliate for the full amount of the duties that have been collected to date and for any future duties that will be collected with respect to softwood lumber," International Trade Minister Jim Peterson said in Ottawa.

Canada appealed the duties -- initially totalling about 27 per cent -- under WTO and North American Free Trade Agreement rules. Both WTO and NAFTA panels found Canadian lumber, which supplies about a third of the U.S. market, does not threaten American mills.

In a background briefing, officials said the retaliatory amount is the largest Ottawa has ever requested against the United States in a trade dispute. It could climb even higher because the compliance review and retaliation request will take several months to complete.

The officials said it's too early to say what U.S. imports might be targeted for retaliatory duties.

It could result in hitting a wide range of U.S. goods imported into Canada with hefty duties.

The U.S. International Trade Commission, an arm of the Commerce Department, issued a ruling last November modifying softwood duties in response to the WTO decision. But Canada has dismissed it as inadequate and based on the same flawed analysis the WTO rejected

Contined

 

[dilloduck]

Contined

wanna make a wood for oil deal? :teeth:

 

[Said1]

wanna make a wood for oil deal? :teeth:

 

[Johnney]

Canada appealed the duties -- initially totalling about 27 per cent -- under WTO and North American Free Trade Agreement rules. Both WTO and NAFTA panels found Canadian lumber, which supplies about a third of the U.S. market, does not threaten American mills.

well of course wto and nafta found that! have to justify their being there one way or another

 

[Yurt]

I love to hear the someone here defend the US's stance on this.

This US action has cost thousands of jobs in Canada. If you say that this stance would save jobs here, let me see it.

Thanks.

 

[Johnney]

I love to hear the someone here defend the US's stance on this.

This US action has cost thousands of jobs in Canada. If you say that this stance would save jobs here, let me see it.

Thanks.

i firmyl beleive the wto and nafta need to go away. sure they create jobs in third world countries, no problem. but what pay are they getting? im willing to bet they are getting WAY less than their American counterparts. speaking of which. what happens to these people who loose jobs by going overseas? they get fucked, as usual.

 

[Said1]

I love to hear the someone here defend the US's stance on this.

This US action has cost thousands of jobs in Canada. If you say that this stance would save jobs here, let me see it.

Thanks.

Everybody cries about subsidies, although Canada hands out money like it was growing on trees (pun intended). I think the prov/fed gov could also stand to back off a bit with their control/protection/meddling in many industries.

Cool facts:
Only 0.4 percent of Canada's land that is managed for commercial timber production is harvested each year. On average, another 0.5 percent of the commercial forest area is damaged by fire and insect attack.
Canada
Canada has 36.5 million hectares (86.5 million acres) of protected forests, about eight percent of the total forest. This is an area larger than the entire country of Germany (34.9 million hectares or 86 million acres). Canada has the largest total protected area of forest of any country in the world.

There has been a considerable increase in the area of protected land in Canada during the past decade. In British Columbia alone, the total protected area was doubled from less than six percent of the land to nearly 12 percent of the land between 1990 and 2000.

Forest Ownership

Canada
94 percent of Canada's forests are publicly owned, mainly by the provincial governments, which manage 71 percent, and by the federal government, which manages 23 percent of the total forest.

http://www.forestinformation.com/home/