Robert Prior (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} robertprior) wrote,@ 2006-10-07 07:53:00 |
|
So this is free trade...
From the Toronto Star
The [Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement] was supposed to be implemented on Oct. 1 but a substantial number of lumber exporters refused to withdraw legal actions against the United States over punitive softwood duties, a key U.S. requirement for it to revoke the duties.
The Americans had demanded that more than 30 separate court actions be terminated by the deadline, forcing Ottawa last Friday to delay implementation until no later than Nov. 1.
...[Julian, a suburban Vancouver MP] said the compromise reached Friday was a last-ditch effort to implement the agreement and avoid a ruling in yet another U.S. trade court case.
The court earlier struck down the U.S. lumber industry's claim Canadian imports posed a threat of injury and was set to rule on whether the roughly US$5.3 billion in duties collected since May 2002 should be returned.
The complex, seven-year deal replaces U.S. lumber duties with a Canadian export tax that kicks in when lumber prices fall below certain levels, a move aimed at protecting American producers who allege Canadian softwood is subsidized.
Canadian exporters are also getting back about 80 per cent of the lumber duties they've paid while the U.S. government and American producers split about $1 billion (U.S.) of the money.
Court after court rules that the countervail is illegal, and yet they still get to keep 20% of it. Harper's proving as bad as Mulrooney. Sigh.
We've got to develop closer trade ties with China. Being beholden to just one country for most of our foreign trade isn't good, especially when said country keeps showing that it had no respect for rules and agreements.
From the Toronto Star
The [Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement] was supposed to be implemented on Oct. 1 but a substantial number of lumber exporters refused to withdraw legal actions against the United States over punitive softwood duties, a key U.S. requirement for it to revoke the duties.
The Americans had demanded that more than 30 separate court actions be terminated by the deadline, forcing Ottawa last Friday to delay implementation until no later than Nov. 1.
...[Julian, a suburban Vancouver MP] said the compromise reached Friday was a last-ditch effort to implement the agreement and avoid a ruling in yet another U.S. trade court case.
The court earlier struck down the U.S. lumber industry's claim Canadian imports posed a threat of injury and was set to rule on whether the roughly US$5.3 billion in duties collected since May 2002 should be returned.
The complex, seven-year deal replaces U.S. lumber duties with a Canadian export tax that kicks in when lumber prices fall below certain levels, a move aimed at protecting American producers who allege Canadian softwood is subsidized.
Canadian exporters are also getting back about 80 per cent of the lumber duties they've paid while the U.S. government and American producers split about $1 billion (U.S.) of the money.
Court after court rules that the countervail is illegal, and yet they still get to keep 20% of it. Harper's proving as bad as Mulrooney. Sigh.
We've got to develop closer trade ties with China. Being beholden to just one country for most of our foreign trade isn't good, especially when said country keeps showing that it had no respect for rules and agreements.
