U.S. lumber industry tactics reach new low

Jan 23, 2006. /Lesprom Network/. After losing at virtually every legal turn, the U.S. coalition for fair lumber imports has decided now to sue the president of the United States in a constitutional challenge to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Even though the U.S. government has supported the coalition in its unjustified attacks against the Canadian industry, the coalition has now turned around and sued its main ally, arguing that the NAFTA process, now that it has produced a result the coalition dislikes, violates the U.S. constitution. "It's the ultimate sign of sheer desperation," said John Allan, president of the BC Lumber Trade Council. “We look forward to working alongside the governments of Canada, the United States, and Mexico in defending the constitutionality of NAFTA and moving one step closer to the final resolution of this litigation.” The U.S. coalition cries of “unfair subsidy” are ringing evermore hollow as evidenced by its knee-jerk response to the Canadian government’s recent program to ameliorate the impact of U.S. duties on Canadian lumber companies. That program simply allows Canadian lumber companies to use their own cash, which is sitting illegally on deposit in the U.S. pending the resolution of the litigation, as insurance against any loan they may take out to keep their businesses running. “The U.S. coalition impairs their credibility further by blaming all their woes on the Canadian industry while their Canadian counterparts spend time and resources on modernizing mills to ensure efficiency and competitiveness. The U.S. industry continues to assert that Canada is flooding their markets with ‘cheap wood,’ when the reality is that Canada’s share of the American market has remained at an average of about 34% over the past ten years,” said Mr. Allan. The BC Lumber Trade Council is the voice for companies in British Columbia representing the vast majority of British Columbia lumber production. Its member companies account for about half of Canadian lumber production and half of Canadian lumber exports to the United States.