International Trade Law News

Update on previous story:

At at joint U.S.-Canada news conference held at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman joined Canada's International Trade Minister David L. Emerson and Industry Minister Maxime Bernier in announcing that the United States and Canada have agreed on the core terms of a softwood lumber accord. The details of the agreement will be finalized over the next couple of months, but are consistent with those set forth in our previous post.

The U.S. Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports issued a press release expressing their support of the agreement. The Coalition applauded the efforts of the Bush Administration officials who negotiated the agreement and USTR-Designate Ambassador Susan Schwab in particular. The Coalitions' chairman said "Ambassador Schwab could not have been better at advancing United States economic interests while understanding what the Canadian governments and industry could accept. She demonstrated the talents needed to be chief U.S. trade negotiator."

For a history and timeline of the 20+ year softwood lumber dispute from the Canadian perspective, the Embassy of Canada has a page on their website containing a history and chronology of the dispute. The U.S. lumber industry's take on this issue can be found on the Coalition for Fair Lumber Import's website.