Wyden welcomes tariffs on unfairly traded Canadian lumber

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement Monday in response to the preliminary results of the Commerce Department investigation, launched in 2016, of Canadian dumping and subsidization of softwood lumber:

“Unfairly traded softwood lumber from Canada has for decades hurt mill towns and American millworkers in Oregon and across the country,” Wyden said. ” Today ‘s announcement sends the message that help is on the way. But the fight to save mill jobs cannot end here – America needs continued tough trade enforcement and a durable solution to the Canadian policies that distort trade and hold American lumber businesses back from fully realizing their potential.”

In 2016, the Commerce Department initiated investigations into Canadian dumping and subsidization of softwood lumber exported to the United States.

In Monday’s decision, Commerce found that Canada has provided subsidies at a countrywide rate of approximately 20 percent to its softwood lumber producers. With that ruling , U.S. Customs and Border Protection will begin requiring importers to pay cash deposits or post bonds equal to the estimated amounts of unfair subsidies.

Commerce is scheduled to issue a decision on the existence and amount of Canadian dumping of these products on June 23 .

The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 created new tools to help ensure that U.S. trade remedy laws provide effective relief to workers and companies harmed from unfair trade, including U.S. softwood lumber producers.

By strengthening U.S. trade remedy laws and cracking down on foreign companies that avoid paying duties lawfully owed, the TFTEA – if fully and effectively applied by the Administration — will help ensure that U.S. mills and millworkers get needed relief from unfair trade, the senator said.

Wyden had written a bipartisan letter with 25 other senators to the U.S. Trade Representative, urging strong protections for U.S. jobs and manufacturing in U.S.-Canada softwood lumber negotiations affecting 30 mills throughout Oregon.