Statement by the BC Lumber Trade Council on NAFTA Panel Decision Regarding U.S. ITC Remand Determination on Softwood Lumber

Susan Yurkovich, President of the BC Lumber Trade Council made the following statement with respect to today’s decision by the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”) panel reviewing the affirmative injury remand determination of the U.S. International Trade Commission (“USITC”).

“The BC Lumber Trade Council is disappointed that the NAFTA Panel’s decision affirms the unsupportable decision reached by the USITC in its remand determination. We remain convinced that the determination that the U.S. lumber industry is “injured” by Canadian lumber imports is flawed and without merit.

It is important to remember that the Canadian Parties’ legal case against the countervailing and antidumping duty orders imposed on softwood lumber is a multi-faceted one. Even with today’s decision affirming the USITC remand determination on injury, the Canadian parties still have pending WTO and NAFTA challenges to the Department of Commerce’s underlying countervailing duty and antidumping duty determinations that have yet to be resolved. We are confident that those proceedings will yield favorable results as they have done in the past, and that the duties ultimately will be ruled to be unwarranted.

We will continue to work with the Government of Canada to vigorously defend against baseless U.S. trade action on softwood lumber.”

About BC Lumber Trade Council

B.C. is the largest Canadian exporter of softwood lumber to the U.S. The B.C. forest industry is a major contributor to the provincial economy and supports approximately 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in the province. The BC Lumber Trade Council is the voice on trade matters for companies in B.C. representing the majority of lumber production in the province.

Contact:

Alexa Young – Media Contact – (778) 229-6885

Source: BC Lumber Trade Council