U.S.-Canada Lumber Settlement is Near (Finally)

The never-ending U.S.-Canada trade fight over lumber subsidies may actually be ending, according to this Maclean’s report.

The framework includes a cap on Canada’s share of the U.S. lumber market, a border tax and the return of 78 per cent of the $5 billion in punitive duties collected by U.S. Customs since May 2002. Officials from the major producing provinces briefed lumber industry executives on the proposed framework, settled the day before a self-imposed Thursday deadline

The deadline on this round of talks is Thursday midnight and the U.S. and Canadian federal governments have signed off on the deal. But there is lots of opposition in the Canadian provinces and in the Canadian lumber industry, as well as in the U.S. homebuilding industry. So this may ultimately fall apart. But if it doesn’t fall apart, I may finally get to stop blogging about lumber. We can only hope.