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U.S. extends deadline on Canadian anti-dumping duties

April 20, 2017 – The U.S. Lumber Coalition has requested, and succeeded, in postponing the results of the U.S. Commerce Department’s investigation into anti-dumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber products.

The information was published in the U.S. Federal Register. It states the petitioner (U.S. Lumber Coalition) made the request in order “to ensure that the Department has sufficient time to obtain and review all relevant information from the parties to this proceeding.”

The Commerce Department stated that since it had no reason to oppose the request, it agreed to extend the deadline on that basis.

The deadline for preliminary anti-dumping duties on Canadian lumber has now moved to June 23. The original deadline was May 4.

“The U.S. lumber industry's overarching goal is to restore an environment in which it can invest, grow to its natural size, and better be able to supply the U.S. market which will help restore the thousands of jobs lost to unfair trade, and can only happen if the domestic industry is not being impaired by unfairly traded imports,” the Lumber Coalition has stated on its website.

The softwood lumber agreement between Canada and the U.S. expired in October 2015. In November 2016, the U.S. Lumber Coalition launched a petition asking the American government to impose duties on Canadian softwood lumber imports, citing unfair subsidies to American lumber producers.

"We're looking for a good deal, not just any deal," Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in the House of Commons about reaching a new softwood lumber agreement, according to a CBC report.

The impending duties are likely to have major consequences on this side of the border, prompting Canadian forestry companies like EACOM Timber Corporation to expand their reach in the market.

April 20, 2017  By  Tamar Atik