{"id":250728,"date":"2025-09-24T05:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T05:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/250728\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T05:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T05:05:13","slug":"u-s-alleges-canada-is-subsidizing-softwood-industry-with-1-2-billion-in-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/250728\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. alleges Canada is subsidizing softwood industry with $1.2-billion in funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Lumber awaiting shipment is seen stacked at the Gorman Brothers Lumber sawmill, in West Kelowna, B.C., in August. In the wake of timber constraints in Canada, Canadian sawmills have seen their market share of U.S. lumber consumption steadily erode over the past nine years.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The U.S. Lumber Coalition is alleging that $1.2-billion in supports for Canada\u2019s softwood industry announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/a> last month constitutes unfair subsidies.<\/p>\n

Ottawa\u2019s financial package includes $700-million in loan guarantees to help lumber producers in Canada with restructuring operations and $500-million in grants and contributions in a bid to diversify markets and reduce dependence on the United States.<\/p>\n

In the latest round of the long-running softwood trade fight, which dates back to the early 1980s, the U.S. Department of Commerce started imposing duties in 2017 on shipments of Canadian lumber.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrime Minister Carney simply decided that Canada would heap even more subsidies onto Canada\u2019s lumber industry, announcing $1.2-billion of additional support beyond the subsidies that the Department of Commerce has already countervailed,\u201d U.S. Lumber Coalition executive director Zoltan van Heyningen said in a letter this month.<\/p>\n

He addressed his letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.<\/p>\n

Lumber producers praise federal plan to diversify markets amid trade war with U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

The U.S. lumber lobby has sway over Congress, with the backing of many influential U.S. senators and members of the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

The U.S. levies anti-dumping duties because it claims Canadian producers sell softwood below market value, while it charges countervailing duties for what it sees as subsidized Canadian lumber.<\/p>\n

Canada has repeatedly rejected the U.S. positions on softwood.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadian subsidization is relentless,\u201d Mr. van Heyningen said, asserting that the U.S. lumber industry continues to encounter \u201cbrazen subsidization and dumping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lumber supplies that originate from sawmills in Canada are currently subject to an anti-dumping duty rate of 14.63 per cent and a countervailing duty rate of 20.53 per cent, totalling 35.16 per cent for most Canadian producers. That\u2019s up sharply from duties totalling 14.4 per cent in the previous final determination.<\/p>\n

The Commerce Department\u2019s administrative review into softwood markets in 2023 levied different duties on <\/b>Vancouver-based companies <\/b>Canfor Corp. CFP-T<\/a> and West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. WFG-T<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada drops challenges to U.S. anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber<\/a><\/p>\n

Canfor saw its total levies soar to 47.59 per cent, up from the previous 16.58 per cent. West Fraser is paying duties totalling 26.47 per cent, compared with the previous 11.89 per cent.<\/p>\n

Since 2017, Canadian producers have paid deposits of more than US$7.2-billion for U.S. duties.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> launched a probe into the global wood trade that could hit imports from Canada hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe naysayers and critics of President Trump\u2019s America First trade policy would put Canada and the European Union first,\u201d Mr. van Heyningen said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s order cited Section 232 of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act, which allows him to invoke national security concerns to potentially impose tariffs. The investigation into softwood and other wood products is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.<\/p>\n

Mr. van Heyningen said new tariffs stemming from the Section 232 investigation \u201cshould be high, they should be stacked on top of any other tariffs\u201d and existing duties.<\/p>\n

He is requesting that such duties and tariffs \u201cremain in effect for a period of at least four years so that the U.S. softwood lumber industry has relief from the harm caused by imports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analysis: Can Canada finally sell more of its lumber overseas?<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. van Heyningen urged the Trump administration to reject efforts by Canadian politicians and others who are \u201cpromoting a Canada First trade policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Canada has withdrawn two appeals of anti-dumping cases related to the Commerce Department\u2019s first two administrative reviews for mid-2017 to 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada continues to strongly believe that U.S. anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber are unfair, unjustified and inconsistent with U.S. law,\u201d Global Affairs Canada spokesperson John Babcock said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The cases focused on anti-dumping duty rates of 1.57 per cent initially, followed by 11.59 per cent levied in the past against most Canadian producers.<\/p>\n

Kurt Niquidet, president of the BC Lumber Trade Council, said Canada is still pursuing relief from countervailing duties imposed during the first two administrative reviews.<\/p>\n

He rejected the Trump administration\u2019s decision to connect wood products with national security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole premise of the Section 232 investigation is that somehow lumber imports or forest products imports are a threat to national security, and we just find that is, frankly, absurd,\u201d Mr. Niquidet said in an interview.<\/p>\n

In the wake of timber constraints in Canada, especially in B.C., Canadian sawmills have seen their market share of U.S. lumber consumption steadily erode over the past nine years.<\/p>\n

Canadian softwood recently accounted for an estimated 24 per cent of American lumber requirements, compared with nearly 33 per cent in 2016, according to Statistics Canada data.<\/p>\n

Over the past dozen years, Canadian-based companies have increased their presence in U.S. forests, where their production is exempted from duties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Lumber awaiting shipment is seen stacked at the Gorman Brothers Lumber sawmill, in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":250729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2148,2138,671,104,2132,692,64,2147,2131,2143,2144,2140,2133,2130,79,407,746,2142,2137,2159,2134,2135,454,2139,1165,728,2149,108,2154,2155,2157,2152,2156,2150,2153,2136,85,2146,80,2145,2151,1458,158,1164,2141,67,132,68,1154,107,2158],"class_list":{"0":"post-250728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-business","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-united-states","54":"tag-unitedstates","55":"tag-us","56":"tag-us-news","57":"tag-world-news","58":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}