The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday instructed American customs officials to collect a prescribed 19.3% duty on Canadian exports at the border rather than at the mill source, says Canadian trade officials.
U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Dispute
The decision to set up the group came out of daylong meetings in Washington on Thursday, said a spokesman for the U.S. trade representative.
If Americans want Canadian oil and gas, they must also open their doors to Canadian lumber, Prime Minister Jean Chretien has told President Bush.
Weyerhaeuser Co.posted layoffs in its western Canadian timber operations on Thursday and observers have warned they could be just the beginning of a long list of job losses caused by hefty new U.S. duties on Canadian softwood lumber.
An economist for the National Association of Home Builders said the decision could add as much as $1,000 to the cost of building a new home, but members of Congress from lumber-producing states praised the administration for taking decisive action to protect domestic producers.
Some U.S. lumber sources on Thursday speculated the Commerce Department could impose a 15-20 percent countervailing duty on Canadian softwood lumber shipments to offset alleged provincial government subsidies the Canadian industry enjoys.
The Commerce Department said it agreed to a request by the American lumber industry to delay an anti-dumping decision until Sept. 24 in a softwood lumber dispute with Canada.
Stumpage fees cannot be construed by the US lumber industry as a subsidy to BC timber harvesters.
A legion of U.S. homebuilders traveled to Canada on Wednesday to give Canada their backing in a months-old dispute over exports of Canadian softwood lumber to the United States.