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The Ministry of Commerce issued its final decision in its third annual review of softwood lumber imports from Canada. The American Timber Federation said in a statement that the 8.59 percent total tariff reaffirms the unfair trade of Canadian lumber imports in the U.S. market and will continue to actively support the enforcement of the new trade law.

"The trade law tariffs announced today by the Department of Commerce will help offset unfair trade practices in Canada," said Andrew Miller, president of the American Timber Union and CEO of Stimson Lumber. "The benefits of a trade case against Canada are clear," Miller added. "Trade enforcement boosts U.S. manufacturing and causes U.S. workers to produce more U.S. lumber to build U.S. homes." By allowing U.S. companies to invest in and Strengthen the domestic supply chain by increasing the overall supply of U.S.-manufactured lumber.

Since the trade lawsuit was filed in 2016, U.S. sawmills have invested heavily to expand capacity. The U.S. lumber industry has produced an additional 15 billion board feet of lumber through 2021, an average annual increase of $3 billion in production. That wood is enough to build more than 1 million single-family homes.

It argued: “U.S. industry remains open to a new U.S.-Canada softwood lumber trade agreement if Canada can address unfair trade practices. These practices are harming U.S. producers, workers and forestland owners. Until then, The American Timber Alliance fully supports continued strong enforcement of U.S. trade laws to address unfair softwood lumber trade practices in Canada."

Canada issues statement on final decision on softwood lumber

In response to the final decision of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s third administrative review of Canada’s imposition of countervailing and anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber exports to the United States, Minister of State for Trade George Chow issued the following joint statement:

“We continue to be frustrated following today’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Commerce that it will continue to impose unreasonable tariffs on British Columbia and Canadian softwood exports. These tariffs are straining both sides of the border at a time when we need to work together to address rising costs related to global inflation. Housing and lumber became more expensive.

BC will always stand by the 50,000 hardworking people in our forestry industry against these baseless duties.

As we work towards a stronger, more sustainable forest economy, we need our transboundary partners most of all with us, not against us. We will continue to work with the Canadian government to advocate for a fair market for BC wood products and vigorously defend this unfair U.S. trade action for softwood lumber. This includes relentless litigation through all available avenues, including under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, and the World Trade Organization. "

Canada believes that excessive tariffs will eventually hurt the timber trade, while the United States believes that too much Canadian timber will hurt its own manufacturing industry. Such mutual accusations have been going on for nearly 10 years, and no good solution has yet been found.