:: rawblogXport ::

:: Friday, October 15, 2004 ::

U.S. mounts challenge of NAFTA ruling that undercuts lumber duties By STEVE MERTL, Canadian Press
An extraordinary challenge is the last appeal available on a NAFTA panel ruling, which carries the weight of law in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

A loss there would force the U.S. government to lift the softwood duties imposed more than two years ago and return more than $2.6 billion in duties collected so far.

A decision is not expected until March at the earliest and perhaps as late as May, said John Allan, president of the B.C. Lumber Trade Council.

The move was quickly praised by the lumber coalition, the main U.S. lobby group behind the duties and previous trade complaints against Canadian softwood exporters.

'We applaud and wholeheartedly support this initiative to correct unauthorized, egregiously defective action by the NAFTA panel,' coalition chairman Rusty Wood said in a news release.

'We are confident that the judges on the ECC will not accept this aberrant outcome.'

The U.S. administration and American lumber industry were upset when, after months of wrangling, the NAFTA panel ordered the commission to find Canadian lumber posed no threat to the U.S. producers.

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