Home builders support NAFTA's lumber ruling.The nation's home builders have called on the Bush administration to rescind punishing tariffs on Canadian lumber imports following last Friday's unanimous ruling by a North American Free Trade Agreement North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), accord establishing a free-trade zone in North America; it was signed in 1992 by Canada, Mexico, and the United States and took effect on Jan. 1, 1994. panel that Canada does not subsidize its lumber industry. "This marks the sixth time in the past three years that a NAFTA NAFTA in full North American Free Trade Agreement Trade pact signed by Canada, the U.S., and Mexico in 1992, which took effect in 1994. Inspired by the success of the European Community in reducing trade barriers among its members, NAFTA created the world's panel has found no justification for the U.S. to be imposing countervailing duties Countervailing duties are a means to restrict international trade in cases where imports are subsidized by a foreign country and hurt domestic producers. According to WTO rules, a country can launch its own investigation and decide to charge extra duties, provided such additional on Canadian lumber shipments into the American marketplace," said David Pressly, president of the National Association of Home Builders The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is one of the largest trade associations in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the association organizes one of the largest conventions in North America, The International Builders' Show, which draws more than and a home builder from Statesville, N.C. "It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a for the U.S. to honor its legal obligations by eliminating these border taxes that are unnecessarily raising the cost of housing and refunding to Canada the duties that have been collected." Currently, there is an 8.7% countervailing duty Noun 1. countervailing duty - a duty imposed to offset subsidies by foreign governments tariff, duty - a government tax on imports or exports; "they signed a treaty to lower duties on trade between their countries" on Canadian lumber imports and anti-dumping duties averaging about 2.1%. The U.S. government imposed countervailing and anti-dumping duties totaling 27% on softwood softwood Timber obtained from coniferous trees (mainly of the pine and fir families). With the exception of bald cypress, tamarack, and larch, softwood trees are evergreens. lumber in May of 2002, charging that Canadian imports represented a "threat" to domestic lumbers. The percentage was subsequently reduced on two separate occasions, but remains above 10%. U.S. law permits countervailing duties to be imposed only if a foreign supplier is benefiting from subsidies and U.S. producers are being injured or threatened with injury as a result. Last week's verdict reaffirmed previous NAFTA findings that determined that the subsidy is below 1%, which under U.S. law means that the lumber imports are not subject to duties. The U.S. has until April 27 to file an appeal to the decision. Last week's ruling has no effect on anti-dumping duties of 2.1%. Several NAFTA panel decisions have unanimously determined that the Commerce Department was using flawed calculations to reach the conclusion that Canadian lumber is subsidized. And on Aug. 10, a NAFTA Extraordinary Challenge Committee upheld an earlier NAFTA ruling that found no threat of injury from Canadian imports. It also stipulated that the U.S. was required to refund the billions of dollars of duties that Canada has paid to date. Although a NAFTA ruling carries the weight of law in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, the administration has failed to implement decisions that invalidate the lumber duties. |
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