On the 19th of July, 25 US Senators have sent a letter to the United States Trade Representative Froman, pushing for intense negotiation and the finding of a sustainable solution to the longstanding challenge presented by the softwood lumber traded from Canada.
The US Lumber Coalition is supporting the letter which was co-sponsored by Sens. Wyden (D‐OR) and Crapo (R‐ID). They are trying to pressure Froman and his team to design a new agreement which would maintain Canadian exports at or below an agreed US market share.
The Senate letter underlines that a strong lumber industry is essential to the U.S. economy, and securing fair trade in lumber is of critical importance to domestic lumber manufacturers and their workers, as well as tree farmers and landowners, and the communities they support.
The Senate letter also recognizes that the US mills are affected by the unfairly traded lumber imports and that any new agreement must establish border measures that are effective in all market situations to disallow further divergences between U.S. and Canadian timber costs created by Canadian subsidies.
Should Canada and the United States be unable to reach an effective agreement, the Senators highlight in their letter the importance of the U.S. trade laws, and that these be fully enforced against unfairly traded imports, including softwood lumber.
