Washington, DC - US Trade Representative Rob Portman and Secretary of
Commerce Carlos Gutierrez responded to the announcement today by the
Canadian Government of a $C 1.5 billion (approximately $US 1.28 billion)
package of assistance for its forest products industry. The
United States Government will consult with industry sources to gather
information about the potential impact of the subsidies, which would be in
addition to the subsidies to the Canadian softwood lumber industry the
Commerce Department has previously identified.
"Today's
announcement is disappointing. Only days after we fully complied with
a NAFTA decision, Canada responds by announcing huge new subsidies.
Canada's actions illustrate what the United States has been saying all
along: the Canadian industry is the beneficiary of subsidies that
create an un-level playing field to the detriment of the U.S. industry,"
said Ambassador Portman. "While we continue to believe that a
long-term, durable settlement is the only way to resolve this dispute,
Canada's actions complicate our attempts to reach a negotiated
solution."
The new subsidy announcement follows a decision earlier
this week by the Department of Commerce in which it found that the subsidy
margin during the period of investigation used for the current
countervailing duty order was de minimis. Those findings were made in
response to a direction from a dispute settlement panel established under
Chapter 19 of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"The
United States is very disappointed over Canada's announcement," said
Secretary Gutierrez. "The contrast is startling - at the same time a
NAFTA panel has directed the Department of Commerce to find that Canadian
subsidies are de minimis, Canada announces over a billion dollars in
aid. This just goes to show that Canada will continue to funnel vast
amounts of assistance to its industry. We will continue to insist that there
subsidies be eliminated by all means at our disposal."
Background
The dispute over trade in softwood lumber stretches back
more than two decades. Since 2002, the United States has imposed
countervailing (CVD) and antidumping (AD) duties on imports of softwood
lumber from Canada. The Department of Commerce imposed the AD/CVD
orders after it found that the Federal and Provincial governments of Canada
provided subsidies to Canadian softwood lumber producers and that Canadian
producers were dumping softwood lumber in the U.S. market, and after the
U.S. International Trade Commission found that dumped and subsidized imports
from Canada threatened to injure the U.S. industry.
The AD/CVD
orders are the subject of approximately two dozen separate legal actions
initiated by the Government of Canada, and Canadian provinces and
industry. The WTO has confirmed the U.S. findings that imports from
Canada were subsidized and dumped, and that the U.S. industry was threatened
with injury. Other proceedings under the WTO, the North American Free
Trade Agreement, and the U.S. Court of International Trade are underway. ###
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