Lumber industry praises trade deal
Lumber manufacturing is the cornerstone industry of the Prince George area.
When the announcement was made that the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States had come to mutual agreement on a new trade pact, the forest sector’s biggest local players issued a joint statement on the breakthrough.
“B.C. lumber producers congratulate (Minister of Foreign Affairs) Chrystia Freeland and the Government of Canada on reaching a renewed trade agreement that preserves the dispute resolution mechanism previously contained in Chapter 19 of NAFTA,” said Susan Yurkovich, president of the B.C. Lumber Trade Council.
Finding a durable resolution to the softwood lumber dispute must remain a key priority.
— Susan Yurkovich, B.C. Lumber Trade Council
“Chapter 10 of the new agreement maintains, for Canada and the U.S only, a bi-national panel review mechanism for reviewing anti-dumping and countervailing duty determinations by either country,” added Yurkovich.
“Having a robust and fair dispute resolution mechanism is absolutely critical to maintaining a rules-based trading system and providing an avenue for Canada and Canadian companies to appeal unwarranted duties.”
It was an important aspect of the trade agreement negotiation for forest companies, since no single sector experienced more disputes than softwood lumber under the previous NAFTA agreement. The nation’s lumber producers were earnest, having had to defend itself so often via the dispute resolution system, that Canadian negotiators not give in to American pressure to scrap the referee system.
The Canadian players in the forest industry were also motivated by the lack of a new Softwood Lumber Agreement, a deal cut separately from the trilateral trade deal now called the United States Mexico Canada Agreement or USMCA.
Yurkovich said a lot of diplomacy efforts were still ahead for the forestry sector.
“The duties imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce on Canadian softwood lumber are punitive and unfair, and are driven by the U.S. lumber lobby solely for the purpose of constraining imports of highquality Canadian lumber to drive up prices for their own benefit. Ultimately these duties punish consumers and workers on both sides of the border,” she said.
“Finding a durable resolution to the softwood lumber dispute must remain a key priority.”
The B.C. Lumber Trade Council is the organization that covers the majority of wood manufacturing operations in this province when it comes to international trade. The Council of Forest Industries and the Coast Forest Products Association are associate members of this trade council. Its members include Canfor, Dunkley, Lakeland, Carrier, Conifex, West Fraser, Tolko, Interfor, Gorman and Western Forest Products.