Canada withdrew challenges against some import taxes the U.S. levied against

softwood lumber

in what the government called a “strategic choice,” as

Prime Minister Mark Carney

seeks a trade deal with

United States President Donald Trump.

The government has revoked two separate claims disputing U.S. anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber based on trading between June 2017 and December 2019, according to Canada’s Global Affairs department.

“Canada has made this decision in close consultation with Canadian industry, provinces and key partners, and it reflects a strategic choice to maximize long-term interests and prospects for a negotiated resolution with the United States,” spokesperson John Babcock said in an emailed statement.

“Canada continues to strongly believe that U.S. anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber are unfair, unjustified and inconsistent with U.S. law,” he added.

The U.S. has collected billions of dollars in anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood — and continues to do so — alleging that the products are unfairly subsidized by governments. The neighbours have feuded over softwood lumber since the 1980s, and legal disputes are still going over more recently imposed duties.

But the move follows a pattern of Carney’s government trying to remove so-called trade irritants in pursuit of a wider settlement with the Trump administration, which has erected tariffs against key Canadian industries like steel and autos, as well as a 35 per cent “emergency” tariff against other goods if they aren’t compliant with the

Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade deal. 

In June, Carney scrapped a digital services tax that had prompted a threat from Trump to terminate trade talks, and removed Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods that comply with CUSMA. Parties are now preparing to review that accord next year.

The U.S. Lumber Coalition, an industry group that lobbies for the duties against competing Canadian wood, said on Sept. 16 that the end of one of the appeals means Canadian lumber producers “will now owe U.S. taxpayers an additional estimated US$236 million.”

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“We will continue to actively pursue other challenges with respect to U.S. duties and engage with the U.S. administration to find a mutually beneficial negotiated outcome,” said Kurt Niquidet, president of the B.C. Lumber Trade Council, which represents the industry in British Columbia, the Canadian province with the largest softwood exports.

Bloomberg.com