The chief executive officers of Canada’s top lumber producers are set to meet on Thursday with International Trade Minister Mary Ng to spur the Canadian government to start talks with the United States to resolve the long-running softwood dispute. The executives are seeking to get the softwood file onto the agenda later this month for the summit in Ottawa between Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden. Scheduled to participate are lumber executives from West Fraser, Canfor, Resolute, Interfor, Tolko and J.D. Irving. …The accumulated tariffs paid by Canadian producers since 2017 recently hit a value of US$6.5-billion, according to CIBC Capital Markets. “The fact that the pot of duties is so large now, that in turn creates an incentive on both sides to want to try to find a settlement,” said former Interfor chief executive Duncan Davies. [to access the full story a Globe and Mail subscription is required]