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| Home Front: Economy |
| Government wants rebuilding to be more expensive |
| 2005-09-06 |
| The United States on Tuesday appealed a World Trade Organization panel report which found Washington failed to comply with the global commerce body's rulings in a long-running lumber dispute with Canada, trade officials said. The dispute centers on Canadian claims that the United States disregarded decisions made by the WTO last year, when U.S. import duties on Canadian lumber were judged to be too high. Washington claims it has adopted the WTO's recommendations. In 2002, the United States slapped import duties on Canadian softwood lumber, which is used by house builders. Washington accused Ottawa of hurting U.S. manufacturers by subsidizing its lumber industry. Most U.S. timber is harvested from private land at market prices, while in Canada the government owns 90 percent of timberlands and charges fees -- called stumpage -- for logging. The fee is based on the cost of maintaining and restoring the forest. U.S. timber companies contend that Canada's stumpage fees are artificially low and amount to subsidies that allow Canadian mills to sell wood below market value. While the U.S. timber industry generally applauded the tariffs, home builders on both sides of the border say they have driven up the cost of new homes If Canada wants to subsidize its lumber sales to us, let it. Heck, if it wants to send us free lumber, I'm OK with that. |
| Posted by:Jackal |