The long-running lumber trade dispute between the US and Canada is drawing to a close, according to a Québec minister.
Addressing the Québec Forestry Industry Council, trade minister Pierre Pettigrew said that the World Trade Organisation and the North American Free Trade Panel were due to make judgements on the long, drawn out dispute this summer. In the interim the two countries were also continuing to negotiate on a bilateral basis for a resolution.
The trade conflict arose over claims from the US lumber sector that their Canadian counterparts were unfairly subsidised. Consequently the Americans imposed a punitive 27% duty on Canadian imports which, to date, has raised US$1.2bn.
Mr Pettigrew said that the question of how this duty would be refunded was yet to be resolved. But it was likely, as part of a deal, that the Canadian federal authorities would impose a temporary sales tax on lumber producers while the provinces changed their forestry laws to defuse US subsidy claims.
