WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced the preliminary determination of a combined anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duty rate of 24.83% in the seventh annual review of unfairly traded Canadian softwood lumber imports into the United States. The review covers lumber imported in calendar year 2024.

The Independent Wood Processors Association, a British Columbia-based organization, says that while it appears tariffs may be lowered, it cautions that there is still uncertainty on whether the finalized rate — expected in August — will actually represent a reduction of the current duty rate.

Executive director Brian Menzies also says that wood manufacturers are being unfairly punished, since companies do not hold timber tenures, harvest Crown timber or receive subsidies — and should not be included in the dispute.  The association also says an existing dispute-resolution process included in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, also known as CUSMA, has not yielded “meaningful progress.”

The U.S. Lumber Coalition has a very different take on the determination. "The Commerce Department findings confirm, yet again, that Canada continues to trade unfairly in softwood lumber," stated Zoltan van Heyningen, Executive Director of the U.S. Lumber Coalition. "Time has come for Canada to stop subsidizing its lumber industry and instead reduce its massive excess lumber production to meet market realities."

"Canada consumes an estimated 7 billion board feet of lumber, but has the capacity to produce 27 billion board feet of lumber," continued van Heyningen. "Canada dumps 90 percent of its excess lumber capacity into the U.S. market, directly displacing U.S. manufacturing and U.S. jobs."

"The Commerce Department's preliminary results today confirm that Canada is actively working to jeopardize U.S. mills and jobs by its continued subsidization of its lumber industry and dumping in the U.S. marketplace. Canada's goal is to enable Canadian producers to maintain massive uneconomical structural excess capacity that should be shuttered."

The preliminary numbers released by the Commerce Department today do not change the cash deposit rates collected on unfairly traded Canadian lumber imports until the seventh annual review becomes final later this year. Unfairly traded lumber imports from Canada will continue to be subject to the current antidumping and countervailing duty cash deposit rate of 35.16% at the border.

Each year, Canadian lumber producers pay antidumping and countervailing duty deposits that may be higher or lower than their final duty liability for the year as calculated by Commerce based on their actual behavior during that period. However, after several consecutive years of egregious levels of unfair trade, as confirmed by the Commerce Department, Canada's cumulative liability now outweighs any refunds owed for prior years such that they now owe the U.S. Government approximately another $173 million on top of the $6.8 billion already paid through 2024.

The antidumping and countervailing duty cash deposit rates are separate and independent from the additional 10 percent tariff on imports of softwood lumber products imposed by the President pursuant to Section 232. The additional tariffs are intended to address the threat to the national security of the United States posed by imports of softwood lumber products by addressing factors that have contributed to mill closures in the United States and weakened demand for U.S.-produced wood products.

The U.S. lumber industry established its right to the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties in the face of unfair competition from Canada in 2017, and the industry will continue to litigate the seventh annual review to ensure that the final results fully reflect the amount of Canada's dumping and subsidization during the review period.

"We appreciate the Commerce Department's commitment to strong enforcement with its fair and thorough review in this case. The United States needs continued strong enforcement of the U.S. trade laws to maximize long-term domestic production and softwood lumber availability produced by U.S. workers to build U.S. homes," concluded van Heyningen.