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WASHINGTON DC: Washington will double the countervailing and anti-dumping tariffs on Canadian lumber, a long overdue move that has nonetheless disappointed Ottawa and could push prices up further in the United States.
Most Canadian companies that export softwood lumber to the United States will have to pay duties of 17.9 percent, down from 8.99 percent currently, according to documents from the US Department of Commerce and the Canadian government.
“Canada is extremely disappointed that the United States has decided to increase the unfair tariffs it imposes on most Canadian lumber producers to 17.9%” and “calls on the United States to do so. end, â€said Canadian International Trade Minister Mary Ng in a statement.
Contacted Thursday by Agence France-Presse (AFP) for comment, the US Department of Commerce did not respond.
The ruling will take effect once it’s published in the Federal Register, the official list of U.S. federal rules and public notices, which could happen next week.
Tariffs are reviewed each year and Washington had published preliminary results in May.
The Quebec Forest Industry Council (CIQF) expects “additional upward pressure on the price of lumber in North America as well as on the Quebec forest industry,” according to a press release.
“It is American consumers who are paying the price,” QFIC director general Jean-François Samray told AFP on Thursday, indicating that “the United States cannot meet its domestic demand”.
The National Home Builders Association of the United States fears that “doubling prices will only exacerbate market volatility, put upward pressure on lumber prices and make housing more expensive.”
“Home builders are grappling with bottlenecks in the supply chain for lumber and other building materials that drive up construction costs,†the association said.
Wood prices have increased since the start of the pandemic. The United States is currently experiencing its worst inflationary surge in 30 years.
The US Lumber Coalition, on the other hand, welcomed the “commitment to firmly enforce US trade laws against unfairly traded Canadian lumber imports.”
The softwood lumber tariff dispute has plagued relations between Washington and Ottawa for 35 years.
American producers accuse their Canadian counterparts of selling lumber below market price to promote exports.
The case went to the World Trade Organization, which ruled in favor of Canada in August 2020, but the United States appealed the decision the following month.
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