Canada’s challenge of duties imposed on Canadian softwood lumber exports to the US has nabbed the support of a key body.
For decades, Canada has fought against what they call unfair anti-dumping and countervailing fees, which harm the stability of the forestry industry.
Last year, the US Department of Commerce issued a final decision dropping the rate of those fees from 17.91 percent to 8 percent on average.
But, Canada argued that any charge was too much, and filed a challenge under the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement.
Yesterday, the NAFTA dispute panel issued a ruling agreeing that three of the eight elements in the decision were unwarranted.
They determined that the Department had erred in calculating certain fees and directed them to revisit those portions of the decision.
Both provincial and federal politicians have welcomed the ruling, though they say they will continue to fight for the complete elimination of charges, which they say is the only fair outcome.
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