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SNOWE: DELAY PLACES THOUSANDS OF MAINE JOBS AT RISK
Implementation of U.S. Canadian Softwood Lumber Agreement delayed
October 5, 2006
WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) today called for the implementation of Canadian export taxes agreed to as part of a September 12th settlement reached between the United States and Canada over the long running softwood lumber trade dispute. The terms of the agreement, originally scheduled to begin on October 1st, have been delayed following requests from Canadian lumber producers seeking more time to comply with the agreement’s requirement that private lawsuits filed against the United States be dropped.
“Each day that the terms of this landmark agreement are delayed, is an additional day the Maine lumber industry will be subjected to the unfairly subsidized softwood lumber crossing from Canada into the United States. This unnecessary delay, which is accompanied by a suspicious increase in the supply of Canadian softwood lumber and a precipitous drop in price, more than violates the intent of this hard won agreement, it puts the jobs of thousands of Mainers in imminent danger. I am calling on both the Canadian and American officials whose years of negotiation led to the achievement of an adequate settlement in September, to respect the intent of the agreement and implement its terms without further delay,” Senator Snowe said.
The United States and Canada have agreed to delay implementation of the September 12, 2006 agreement resolving the softwood lumber trade dispute between the two countries which calls for the replacement of U.S. corrective duties totaling 10.8% with a Canadian export tax of approximately 15%. This export tax was originally set to take effect on October 1, 2006, but has now been delayed up to one month.
Since the terms of this agreement were reached on September 12th, reports from U.S. and Canadian industry observers indicate that Canadian lumber exporters may be exploiting the delay of implementation by unloading larger than usual amounts of lumber on the U.S. market, resulting in drastically lower prices. Coupled with a decrease in demand for lumber from the slowing new housing market, the U.S. lumber producers have been forced to furlough thousands of workers in the past few weeks.
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