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Consumers Win Latest Round in Canadian Lumber Dispute

“For the second time, a NAFTA panel has determined the U.S. lumber industry’s injury threat allegations are baseless and contrary to law,” said NAHB President Bobby Rayburn. “We call on the Administration not to engage in any legal delays and to allow the implementation of this decision. It’s high time to roll back the 27% duties on Canadian lumber and end the hidden tax imposed on American home buyers and renters.”

An International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling in May of 2002 that the U.S. lumber industry was threatened with injury by Canadian lumber imports allowed the U.S. Commerce Department to impose countervailing and anti-dumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber shipments into the U.S.

Last fall, NAFTA determined that the ITC had not provided adequate substantiation for that decision and it gave the commission 100 days to reconsider the case. The ITC then reaffirmed its original finding. The NAFTA verdict released on April 29 rejected the ITC’s latest decision because it “is not in accordance with the law and is not supported by substantial evidence.”

NAFTA gave the ITC until May 10 to once again attempt to prove its threat-of-injury analysis.

With the price of framing lumber reaching $460 per 1,000 board feet for the week ending May 7 — up more than 40% from the beginning of the year and at its highest level since July of 1999, according to Random Lengths — Rayburn noted that the NAFTA decision could not have come at a better time.

“It is absurd for U.S. lumber producers to complain they are being harmed by legitimate competition from Canada,” he said. “The duties are icing on the cake for domestic producers — artificially boosting their profits and lumber prices at the expense of U.S. consumers.”

For more information, e-mail Michael Carliner at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8376.

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