Senators Ask for End of Countervailing Duties on Softwood Lumber
Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., asked the U.S. trade representative to lift trade remedies on Canadian softwood lumber, because the cost of framing lumber has quintupled and lumber prices overall are up 300%. "In December of 2020,…
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the average tariff was reduced to 9%. While a reduction in tariffs for some Canadian producers is a step in the right direction, the complete elimination of these tariffs is necessary to provide relief for rising lumber prices. American home buyers, not Canadian lumber producers, are the ones who end up paying the cost of these trade restrictions," they wrote May 12. The USTR told Senate Finance Committee members on May 12 that there are good reasons for the countervailing duties, and an agreement that would allow for more Canadian imports to avoid these kinds of price surges is not one the Canadians have expressed interest in so far.