GENEVA — The World Trade Organization has ruled that the U.S. Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission erred when they imposed countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber in 2017. The U.S. has repeatedly attempted to introduce tariffs to offset Canada’s stumpage fee system, which it considers a form of unfair subsidy, but has been consistently rebuffed by international tribunals.
“This flawed report confirms what the United States has been saying for years: the WTO dispute settlement system is being used to shield non-market practices and harm U.S. interests,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement.
“For three decades, we have been saying that the U.S. trade remedy process is flawed. Unfortunately, this is just the latest chapter in the ongoing attack on the Canadian lumber industry,” said Susan Yurkovich, president of the B.C. Lumber Trade Council. “Each of the prior two lumber disputes ended with neutral, international tribunals issuing rulings that forced [the] Commerce [Department] to rescind their flawed and unsupported subsidy findings for similar reasons.”
