US paper industry injured by imports from Canada

Supercalendered paper. Photo: Munksjö

US SC paper producers are seeking trade action against Canadian competitors who they say are dumping their product south of the border and pricing them out of the market.

In Mars,  the Coalition for Fair Paper Imports, an ad hoc association of U.S. producers that includes Madison Paper Industries, Inc. and Verso Corp, filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission asking that countervailing duties be imposed on Canadian exporters of so-called supercalendered paper. The glossy paper is used in retail catalogues, flyers and magazines.

The US. Department of Commerce has now decided to continue an investigation on imports of supercalendered paper from Canada, following a decision by the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) on April 10. The USITC has decided that there is a reasonable indication that a U.S. industry is materially injured by imports of supercalendered paper from Canada that the petitioning group alleges are subsidized by the government of Canada.