| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Contact: Beth Day |
| March 1, 2001 | (202)224-6404 |
Washington, D.C. - Mississippi Senators Thad Cochran and Trent Lott signed a letter to President Bush encouraging the Administration to renegotiate the Canadian Softwood Lumber trade agreement. The letter, signed by a bipartisan group of 52 Senators, was sent to the White House today.
The Senators are concerned that if action is not taken to renegotiate the current lumber agreement, which will expire on April 1, then U.S. timber owners in Mississippi and across the nation will suffer serious losses. Last month, President Bush met with Prime Minister Chretien of Canada to emphasize the seriousness of the softwood lumber crisis in America. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick met with Canadian Trade Minister Pettigrew to stress that this should be the number one bilateral trade issue. "Timber is our second most lucrative agriculture product, and competition from Canada and its government policies have hurt timber growers in our state," Cochran said. "We are working hard to encourage the Bush Administration to try to negotiate a fair trade agreement so that Mississippi timber owners are not put out of business by imported Canadian lumber." Lott said, "I think we need to be very aggressive in requiring the Canadians to comply with trade laws, and they have not been doing that. They are subsidizing their timber, and it's having a devastating effect on working men and women in Mississippi. This is unfair, and we cannot tolerate it."Home | Biography | Press Releases | Legislation | Offices | Committees