WTO Panel Affirms U.S. Department of Commerce Antidumping Duty Measures Applying the Differential Pricing Methodology to Softwood Lumber Products from Canada

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Lumber Coalition applauds today's decision by a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel affirming the United States' anti-dumping measures that apply the Differential Pricing Methodology to softwood lumber products from Canada. In its decision the WTO panel rejected a prior WTO appellate body's finding on this issue, which imposed obligations on the United States that had never been agreed to by the United States in the negotiations establishing the WTO. Today's decision by the WTO panel is not only vitally important to the domestic lumber industry, it is an essential affirmation of U.S. sovereignty and its rights to fully and properly enforce trade laws as enacted by Congress.

"The U.S. industry strongly supports the Administration's full enforcement of the U.S. trade laws against subsidized and dumped Canadian imports. We thank the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce for their strong and successful defense of the trade laws before the WTO," said Jason Brochu, U.S. Lumber Coalition Co-Chair and Co-President of Pleasant River Lumber Company in Maine. "The fair chance to compete on a level playing field is of utmost importance to domestic lumber manufacturers, their workers, as well as tree farmers and landowners, and the economies of the rural communities they support across the United States," concluded Brochu. 

Canada had challenged the methodology used by the U.S. Department of Commerce that determined Canadian exporters sold softwood lumber to the United States at less than fair value, distorting the U.S. softwood lumber market to the detriment of U.S. sawmills, their employees and communities. The WTO panel decision validates the Department of Commerce's methodology that is designed to offset injurious unfair dumping into the U.S. market by foreign producers.  

The trade measures – imposed after a thorough year-long investigation by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission – are designed merely to offset the harm done to domestic producers from imports that are sold in the United States at less than fair value.

About the U.S. Lumber Coalition
The U.S. Lumber Coalition is an alliance of large and small softwood lumber producers from around the country, joined by their employees, and woodland owners, working to address Canada's unfair lumber trade practices. Our goal is to serve as the voice of the American lumber community, and effectively address Canada's unfair softwood lumber trade practices, including its gross underpricing of timber. For more information, please visit the Coalition's website at www.uslumbercoalition.org.

CONTACT: Zoltan van Heyningen
[email protected] | 202-805-9133

SOURCE U.S. Lumber Coalition

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http://www.uslumbercoalition.org