The April finding of “critical circumstances,” which allowed
duties to be applied retroactively, was meant to add to the
cost of not settling yet, she said.
“It’s hard for anybody to get their head around the
dynamics of this administration,” Todgham Cherniak says.
U.S. commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said he would
like softwood lumber to be resolved before NAFTA
renegotiations begin later this summer.
“I think you’ll see negotiations start in earnest on
softwood throughout the rest of the summer,” CBC quoted
trade lawyer Dan Ujczo as saying. However, he believes
there is only a 50/50 chance of a deal.
The problem: There is a hypocritical Canadian argument
about the effect of lumber tariffs on homebuilding costs,
Ujczo asserts.
Ujczo told CBC he will testify at NAFTA consultations in
Washington on behalf of several clients, including the
Western Canada Alliance of Wall and Ceiling Contractors,
which has complained about the Canadian government’s
own anti-dumping duties on gypsum board that has
increased costs, especially in western Canada.
“Part of it is that Canada wants a negotiating chip,”
Ujczo said in the CBC interview, but “it’s very dangerous
for Canada to be playing this game right now.”
Putting rising construction costs for U.S. consumers at
the heart of its softwood lumber argument in the U.S. may
merk@merx.com backfire, he indicated.
“‘Start at home first before you come talk to us’ would
easily be the U.S. position on that,” Ujczo said.
“The U.S. doesn’t care if it’s hurting the Canadian
forestry industry. It’s protecting to make America great
again, right?” CBC has quoted Ujczo as saying. “Mexican
drywall is coming into Canada to fill that demand,” he said.
“That’s red meat for the Trump administration.”
Canadian negotiators indicate they have seen little
evidence of serious negotiation to date from the
Americans. Foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland
confirmed in June that the two sides remain far apart.
Canada could easily take the drywall issue off the table
but that won’t be enough, the lawyer said.
When he reviewed the math of the April countervailing
duties decision, he saw that the Commerce Department
is targeting B.C.’s raw log export restrictions for private
land. Ujczo described it as an “antiquated protectionist
measure” that Canada should be prepared to deal away.
The larger NAFTA renegotiation is “inextricably
intertwined” in the minds of many members of the U.S.
Congress, he said.
“Softwood lumber has always had the potential to
throw everything off the rails,” he said. “It certainly can
change the tenor and tone of the NAFTA negotiations.”
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The Canadian Design and Construction Report — Summer 2017 – 13