Canadian Prime Minister Carney's government today issued yet another massive subsidy announcement to prop up Canada's excessive and harmful lumber overcapacity and production, according to the U.S. Lumber Coalition.
This bail out comes on top of other multi-billion dollar subsidies announced since August of this year, all aimed at neutralizing U.S. trade law enforcement actions and President Trump's plan to increase U.S. softwood lumber production through his additional tariff measures.
This doubling down on unfair trade and subsidies by the Carney government will only exacerbate the softwood lumber trade issue, and will eventually result in the U.S. government collecting those subsidies at the border as the United States continues to enforce its trade laws. To date, Canadian softwood lumber companies have paid over $7 billion dollars in duties to the U.S. government, and today's announcement of more Canadian taxpayer-funded subsidies will ensure that those collections will continue into the future.
"Canada should responsibly reduce its massive excess lumber overcapacity that remains the underlying cause of Canada's unfair trade practices along with its subsidy programs," stated Zoltan van Heyningen, Executive Director of the U.S. Lumber Coalition, adding that "we will continue to fight for U.S. workers, forestry dependent communities, and companies to level the playing field against Canada's unfair trade practices and to support the President's targeted tariff policies aimed at addressing Canada's harmful excess lumber capacity."
"Canada's sense of entitlement to be able to abuse our trade laws, engage in unfair trade, announce round after round of subsidies that force our industry to compete against the Canadian government to maintain U.S. production facilities and U.S. jobs is outrageous. Clearly, the Canadian softwood lumber industry is unable to compete on its own two feet without massive government subsidies," stated Andrew Miller, Chair and Owner of Stimson Lumber Company.
"This cycle of new Canadian subsidies that are endangering our U.S. industry and workers must come to an end. We urge President Trump and his Administration to consider additional immediate measures in response to Canada's continued abuse of the U.S. market," concluded Miller.
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. The Coalition supports the full enforcement of the U.S. trade laws to allow the U.S. industry to invest and grow to its natural size without being impaired by unfairly traded imports.
