Negotiations are to resume between the US and Canada aimed at solving the long-running softwood lumber dispute.
Canadian minister for international trade Pierre Pettigrew has agreed with his US counterpart Robert Zoellick to kickstart discussions before the end of August.
Earlier talks in the spring broke off without progress. Since then permanent duties averaging 27% have been imposed by the American government on Canadian lumber imports to the US, resulting in thousands of lay-offs at Canadian mills.
Negotiations in the past have centred on the harvesting prices of timber in the Canadian provinces, with the US arguing for a more market-based system, rather than the current arrangement which sees the provincial governments setting the price. The US regards this as ‘subsidising’ the Canadian timber industry.
Both the British Columbia Lumber Trade Council and the US Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports have welcomed news of the renewed talks.
