Region Archives: Canada

A progressive group says it’s baffled that the Canadian government has worked at the NAFTA negotiating table to protect a dispute resolution system that allows companies to sue governments, estimating it has cost Canadian taxpayers $314 million. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says in a report to be published Tuesday that Chapter 11 provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement have cost Canada $95 million in unrecoverable legal fees, calculated based on data it obtained through an access to information request. …The CCPA says Canada has been the target of more claims under Chapter 11 than its Mexican and American partners and the trend is getting worse as Canada has been sued over twice as many times as Mexico and the U.S. combined since 2010.

Susan Rowell

The U.S. government is slapping a tariff on Canadian newsprint that will hurt the American newspaper industry. It’s a tariff that is opposed by the trade group for the American newsprint industry, the American Forest and Paper Association.  …National Newspaper Association President Susan Rowell, publisher of The Lancaster (S.C.) News, said in a statement that “forcing us through protectionist trade practices to buy less paper would lead to small newspapers and a less informed community. In the end, the U.S. newsprint producers would be harmed. We would be harmed. Jobs would be lost. NNA is urging the Commerce Department to recognize the economic realities we all face.” …The Commerce Department would be wise to follow this ethical dictum: Make a decision that will help the greatest number of people and businesses. Listen to the newspaper industry.

By any measure, 2017 was a good one for the wood products markets. The larger question looming, however, is whether 2018 will usher in a similar wave of rising prices and increasing demand. Given the current state of wood products markets in late 2017, optimism is not unwarranted as housing is expected to finally sustain a 1.3 million unit pace next year as household finances continue to firm. However, uncertainty over the extent to which bilateral trade agreements will stifle Canadian lumber supply, coupled with tax changes and a rise in OSB restarts, will likely lead to another year of cautious inventory buying. …Meanwhile, the supply challenges resulting from the wildfires are expected to linger in 2018 as producers in British Columbia and the U.S. West Coast struggle to rebuild log decks as demand rises.

Gordon Ritchie

The Canadian media universe is aflutter over the possible collapse of the renegotiation of the North American free-trade agreement. …When I was negotiating the original FTA, I was struck by the high drama in the Canadian media, who covered every twist and turn in detail, with a large contingent of reporters waiting outside every negotiating session to question the principals. Meanwhile, in the meeting room, the atmosphere was largely one of boredom as the busy work of negotiations proceeded without any engagement on the real issues. It took a breakdown of those talks before the real talks could begin. Without any inside information, I believe the current talks are facing the same situation. …The real issue then, as now, was unilateral American “unfair trade” actions applied aggressively and unreasonably against successful imports from Canada, most notably on softwood lumber.

The Canadian government’s decision to drag the United States before the World Trade Organization just as make-or-break NAFTA talks are set to resume will strike some people as poor timing and even worse judgment. It’s like calling the police on a noisy neighbour when what you really want is an invitation to the neighbour’s party. …Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, key cabinet ministers and supportive provincial premiers have all embarked on diplomatic pilgrimages to the United States to persuade state governors as well as leaders in Washington to keep NAFTA alive. Yet far from exorcising America’s protectionist demons, Canada has seen the U.S. slam Canadian softwood lumber, newsprint and Bombardier jets with crippling new duties. …Canada’s WTO challenge speaks to the president in the tough, clear and confrontational language he so loves. Perhaps he’ll respect the tone, if not the message.

Chrystia Freeland

At the end of a week during which fears of the demise of NAFTA sent markets gyrating, the United States is giving Canada and Mexico hope that the continental trading block may not be doomed after all. U.S. President Donald Trump said the renegotiation of the North American free-trade agreement is “moving along nicely,” while House Speaker Paul Ryan called for the United States to change the pact from within rather than abandon it. Canada expressed cautious optimism in the face of the softer tone – but warned that with the unpredictable Mr. Trump, Ottawa would not let down its guard. In a wide-ranging interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Trump said he still planned to “terminate” NAFTA if a deal cannot be reached, but that he would prefer it did not come to that.

Chrystia Freeland

The Trudeau government appears to have adopted a good-cop, bad-cop strategy for saving NAFTA — coming up with some “creative” new proposals in response to unpalatable U.S. demands while simultaneously signalling its willingness to aggressively attack what it considers unfair American trade practices. But while the government is hoping for the best from negotiations to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland reiterated Thursday that it’s also prepared for the worst: a U.S. withdrawal from the continental trade pact. …But taking a tough stand is an approach the Americans can appreciate, International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne argued Thursday. “I think the American colleagues understand when you stand strong in sending a message that said, ‘We will stand up for the forestry industry, we will stand up for aerospace industry, we’ll stand up for Canadian workers’,” Champagne said.

Biran Higgins

U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo/Niagara Falls, is opposing a preliminary decision by the U.S. Department of Commerce to impose tariffs on paper commonly used in the print industry.  Higgins, joined by fellow U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, expressed concern this week that the measure will lead to added costs for consumers and potential job cuts at large and small newspaper and book publishing operations across New York state and the nation. …“The proposed duties would cause undue burden, destabilizing the industry, forcing increases in subscription rates for consumers and reducing jobs in an area already stretched thin,” said Higgins, a member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade and co-chair of the Northern Border Caucus. “Furthermore, local journalism is the core of our communities’ access to information about government, the economy and community activities; it should not be infringed upon by the claims of a single U.S. producer.”

Terence Corcoran

The NAFTA-is-dead movement gathered steam on Wednesday. Or maybe it’s just more hot air emanating from the whirling machinery of strategic negotiation leading up to the beginning of the Montreal Round of negotiations scheduled to begin Jan. 23. The prospect of NAFTA’s demise has long been a Trump administration product, mostly generated by the president’s periodic and overheated threats. But now Canada is emerging as a leading source of gloom. …Two international news agencies, Reuters and Bloomberg, quoted unnamed Canadian “officials” as saying Ottawa is increasingly convinced that Trump is about to pull the plug on the deal. That alone would trigger market reaction. At the same time, however, Canada fed the engine of doom when it unleashed a trade dispute claim that amounts to a direct attack on U.S. trade practices.

Robert Lighthizer

Canada is escalating its trade fight with Donald Trump, mounting what the U.S. calls a “broad and ill-advised attack” just as Nafta talks are set to resume. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government launched a wide-ranging World Trade Organization dispute with the U.S. over how it applies countervailing and anti-dumping duties. The paperwork was filed Dec. 20, days after a mini-round of North American Free Trade Agreement talks ended in Washington, and made public Wednesday. It drew a harshly worded response from Trump’s trade czar. “Canada’s claims are unfounded and could only lower U.S. confidence that Canada is committed to mutually beneficial trade,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement. “Even if Canada succeeded on these groundless claims, other countries would primarily benefit, not Canada,” he said. “Canada’s complaint is bad for Canada.”

OTTAWA — Canada launched the opening salvo in a trade war with the United States Wednesday, lodging an international complaint about the superpower’s use of punitive duties. …In a statement, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said, “This WTO action is part of our broader litigation to defend the hundreds of thousands of good, middle class forestry jobs across our country.”  The complaint marks Canada’s most exhaustive attempt yet to counter recent import duties imposed by the U.S., particularly on Canadian softwood lumber products. “It’s (saying), ‘The entire way in which the U.S. — you — are conducting your anti-dumping, countervailing procedures, is wrong,”’ said Chad Bown, a trade expert at Washington’s Peterson Institute. “This is effectively Canada bringing a dispute on behalf of all exporters in the world — the Europeans, Japan, China — because they’re making a systemic challenge.”

WASHINGTON — Canada has filed a sweeping trade case against the United States at the World Trade Organization, lobbing a diplomatic grenade at the Trump administration’s “America First” approach amid an increasingly embattled trade relationship between the longstanding North American allies. …The case could expand into a multinational trade dispute given that Canada, a champion of global agreements, filed it in a way that allows other countries to join. …“You can equate it to a gold medal hockey game: Canada and the United States are playing, but all of the referees are from the U.S.,” said Andrea van Vugt, vice president for North American affairs at the Business Council of Canada, a group representing about 150 companies. “The Canadian government really has no choice but to stand up for Canadian industries on this.”

B.C.’s forest products industry is applauding an aggressive legal action filed by the Canadian government Wednesday, a broad complaint against U.S. global trade practices made to the World Trade Organization. …“B.C.’s lumber producers welcome the government of Canada’s efforts to vigorously defend Canada’s interests in trade relations with the U.S.,” said Susan Yurkovich, president of the B.C. Lumber Trade Council. “For decades, the Canadian lumber industry has been subject to unfair and unwarranted duties imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, and has filed appeals under NAFTA and WTO agreements. We know that when unbiased entities review these unfair trade practices, they have found in Canada’s favour.” The 32-page complaint to the WTO includes more than 100 examples of U.S. duties on foreign countries, including… lumber from Canada.

Richmond-headquartered Catalyst Paper is among the Canadian companies that will be hit by new American duties of 6%. The U.S. Commerce Department on January 9 announced preliminary countervailing duties against Canadian newsprint of 6% to 6.5%. The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) said the duties could be in effect as early as next week. There are a number of pulp and paper producers in B.C., but some of them will escape the duties. Paper Excellence, for example, no longer makes newsprint, following the closure of its Howe Sound paper mill. West Fraser Timber is not likely to be directly affected, a company spokesperson said. Although it has some ownership of a newsprint mill in Alberta, it has no mills in B.C. that produce newsprint. Unlike the lumber industry, which is facing even higher duties, the pulp and paper sector may be less insulated from American duties.

Susan Yurkovich

VANCOUVER, B.C. –  Susan Yurkovich, President of the BC Lumber Trade Council made the following statement today on the Government of Canada’s legal action filed with the World Trade Organization [WTO]: “B.C. lumber producers welcome the Government of Canada’s efforts to vigorously defend Canada’s interests in trade relations with the U.S.  In particular, the Government of Canada has requested that the WTO examine the use of certain systemic trade practices that violate international trade law. For decades, the Canadian lumber industry has been subject to unfair and unwarranted duties imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, and has filed appeals under the NAFTA and WTO agreements. We know that when unbiased entities review these unfair trade practices, they have found in Canada’s favour.

Canada is challenging the Trump administration’s system of levying penalties on imports in a complaint at the World Trade Organization, a move likely to heat up simmering tensions between the two trading partners. …But the complaint, while centered on the forestry and softwood lumber industries, is bigger than that, encompassing the future of North American supply chains and the long-term growth of the integrated economies, a Canadian official said. The United States called the complaint, which includes cases that involve a variety of exports as well as other nations such as China and Brazil, an attack on how the nation goes about using its trade enforcement system. …”Canada’s claims are unfounded and could only lower U.S. confidence that Canada is committed to mutually beneficial trade,” Lighthizer said. 

The U.S. Department of Commerce slapped an overall tariff of 6.53 per cent on about 25 Canadian plants, mostly in Quebec and Ontario, following an investigation that began in August 2017. “Today’s preliminary decision allows U.S. producers to receive relief from the market-distorting effects of potential government subsidies while taking into account the need to keep groundwoodpaper prices affordable for domestic consumers,” stated Secretary Wilbur Ross. …The tariff had been anticipated by Canada’s lumber industry, which warned in December that the impact could be worse than the softwood lumber dispute. …Derek Nighbor, CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), told National Observerthat about 25 mills in Canada could be affected by the new tariff on newsprint.