U.S. senate committee pressures Trump administration on quotas in softwood deal

MONTREAL – The United States Senate finance committee has increased pressure on the Trump administration to include quotas in a softwood lumber agreement with Canada.

Seven Democratic and Republican senators expressed their demands in a letter sent this week to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

In the last agreement in 2006, eastern Canadian lumber producers were subject to quotas ranging from 30 to 34 per cent and tariffs of 2.5 to five per cent depending on the price of lumber.

Western Canadian producers faced no limits but an export tax between five and 15 per cent depending on lumber prices.

The seven senators also want to be regularly consulted and find out about U.S. proposals before they are presented to Canada.

The coalition representing U.S. lumber producers applauded senate efforts to push for a “fair trade deal.”

The framework for a 10-year deal rejected by the coalition would see Canada’s share of the U.S. market gradually reduced to 27 or 28 per cent over several years from its 31.9 per cent share last year, an industry analyst wrote earlier this month.

American negotiators originally proposed a quota of 22 per cent.