USTR SEEKS INDUSTRY COMMENTS ON U.S.-CANADA SOFTWOOD LUMBER AGREEMENT
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments from the industry concerning the softwood lumber agreement between the United States and Canada.
The U.S.-Canada Software Lumber Agreement, which was signed in 1996, will expire in April 2001.
The agreement imposes restrictions on softwood lumber from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Shipments from these provinces in excess of 14.7 billion board feet in a year are subject to a surcharge of $50 per thousand board feet up to an additional 650 million board feet. After that level is reached, softwood lumber shipments from Canada are prohibited.
Industry groups in the building products sector criticize the agreement for artificially inflating lumber prices.
U.S. Representatives Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., and Steny Hoyer, D-Md., have proposed a resolution in the House to abolish the softwood lumber agreement.
Companies interested in the agreement must file their comments with the USTR’s Trade Policy Staff Committee in Washington by April 14.