U.S. Consumer and Business Groups Applaud WTO Decision Against Duties On Canadian Softwood Lumber Imports Essential for …

Consumer and business group

representatives applauded today’s preliminary ruling by a World Trade

Organization (WTO) panel that countervailing duties imposed by the U.S.

Commerce Department on Canadian softwood lumber imports should be overturned.

A final WTO decision on the countervailing duties is expected next month

and could be subject to three months of appeals.

“This is a significant victory for consumers and affordable housing in the

U.S.,” said Susan Petniunas, a spokesperson for the American Consumers for

Affordable Homes, an alliance of 18 large national associations and companies.

“The U.S. lumber companies once again have lost their argument that Canadian

lumber is subsidized. We urge the Bush administration to accept this decision

and to end its appeals and challenges in the WTO or in NAFTA (North American

Free Trade Agreement). The duties are totally unfair to consumers, and

painful for home buyers.”

Canada has filed similar appeals against the duties with NAFTA, which is

not expected to rule until next February.

If allowed to stand, the countervailing duties, along with anti-dumping

duties subject to a separate appeal, would average 27.2 percent and could add

more than $1,000 to the cost of a new home, and price as many as

300,000 families out of the housing market. “While $1,000 may not sound like

much to some people, for many families trying to buy a home for the first

time, it can make a decisive difference between being able to qualify for a

mortgage, or not,” Petniunas said. “The time has come for the Administration

to recognize that these duties hurt our need for affordable housing, and for

jobs within lumber consuming industries.”

Because there are not enough trees available to produce lumber for home

building in the U.S., Canadian lumber imports are absolutely vital for the

construction of affordable new homes and to make improvements on existing

homes in America. The U.S. relies on Canada and other sources for

approximately 37 percent of the lumber it needs.

Led by International Paper, Potlatch, Plum Creek, Sierra Pacific, Temple

Inland and southern landowners, the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports filed

petitions with the U.S. Commerce Department more than a year ago alleging that

domestic lumber producers had been harmed by Canadian softwood lumber imports

and asking for countervailing and antidumping duties. The International Trade

Commission approved the Commerce Department’s action, and duties were imposed

at the end of May.

More than 110 members of the U.S. House and Senate have signed resolutions

or written letters to President Bush over the past year opposing duties and

indicating their support for free trade in lumber between the U.S. and Canada.

“Since 1983, some of the large U.S. producers and landowners have

periodically charged Canada with subsidizing its lumber industry, and they

have consistently lost when Canada has appealed preliminary decisions,”

Petniunas said. “We believe they will continue to fail on this round of

reviews.”

ACAH members represent more than 95 percent of the lumber consumption in

the U.S. Members include American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance, Catamount

Pellet Fuel Corporation, CHEP International, Citizens for a Sound Economy,

Consumers for World Trade, Freemont Forest Group Corporation, Free Trade

Lumber Council, The Home Depot, International Mass Retail Association,

International Sleep Products Association, Leggett & Platt Inc., Manufactured

Housing Association for Regulatory Reform, Manufactured Housing Institute,

National Association of Home Builders, National Black Chamber of Commerce,

National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association, National Retail

Federation, and the United States Hispanic Contractors Association.