The American government’s desire to increase taxes on Canadian lumber is “unjustified” according to the president and CEO of the Quebec Forest Industry Council (CIFQ), Jean-François Samray.
“This issue must be resolved in an honorable manner for Canada (…) It is a political conflict which has an economic impact on the region and on the whole country,” says Jean-François Samray, who underlines that this present The conflict has been going on for eight years now.
Currently, Canadian wood producers must pay a tax of 8.05% at American customs to transport their production through. A situation that is unlikely to improve. Indeed, on February 1, the American Department of Commerce announced that it wanted to increase the tax rate to 13.86% for the month of August 2024.
“The American forestry sector is demanding this tax under the pretext that the Canadian forestry industry is subsidized by the state,” he explains.
Moreover, the anti-dumping tariffs (7.15%) are worth more than half of the new preliminary rate of 13.86%. According to the CEO of the CIFQ, the American authorities believe that Canadian wood is not sold at a high enough price and would compete unfairly with their sawmills.
“In Quebec, we have a forest regime which was validated by the Americans when it was put in place. This regime is inspired by the most rigorous practices of several American states. The Quebec state has limited itself to following their restrictions,” continues Jean-François Samray.
The WTO agrees with Canada
Mr. Samray recalls that almost four years ago the World Trade Organization (WTO), after analysis, argued that there was no market distortion.
“They have claims that they will have to defend during panels. We were supposed to sit on these issues 1,800 days ago and last Friday, we learned that they [les américains] pushed it back again (…) There are currently 1.8 billion dollars which belong to Quebec sawmills and more precisely to the Jeannoise sawmills which have been collected. This sum is blocked until there are negotiations to resolve the dispute,” he adds, specifying that European wood currently enters the United States tax-free.
Yannick Baillargeon, president of Alliance Forest Boréale, is moving in the same direction as the CIFQ. He believes that the Quebec forestry regime was put in place to prove to the United States that Canada does not subsidize its industry.
“We are constantly in court on this subject and the WTO agrees with us, but they still continue to apply a surcharge (…) We thought we would have a safe passage with the arrival of Joe Biden in power , but Democrats and Republicans are the same on this issue,” concludes Yannick Baillargeon.
2024-02-16 02:03:05
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