Summit May Reignite Softwood Talks - Canada Minister
Date: 15-Mar-06
Country: CANADA
Canadian Trade Minister David Emerson said he hoped the meeting of North American leaders in Cancun, Mexico, planned for the end of March, would help restarted stalled talks between between Canada and the United States.
"It would be my hope that following the prime minister meeting with President Bush, that that will set the tone for moving forward and beginning to deal with what I regard to be the number one irritant, indeed contaminant, of Canada-US commercial relations." Emerson said.
US Trade Representative Rob Portman said Tuesday he planned to speak with Emerson this week about the dispute between the world's biggest trading partners and again at an annual trilateral meeting in Mexico.
"We have a window of opportunity." Portman told Reuters in an interview in Washington.
The United States alleges Canada's provinces subsidize lumber mills by charging below-market logging rates. Canada denies the claim, and says the United States is just protecting inefficient sawmills from competition.
There have been several unsuccessful efforts to end the dispute with talks while the two sides also battled before North American Free Trade Agreement dispute panels and at the World Trade Organization.
"I've always said that at some point we're going to have to face up to a negotiation around softwood lumber and I haven't changed my view on that," said Emerson.
Among the issues dividing the countries is what to do with the more than $4 billion in duties already collected by the United States.
"That (tariff refund) is one of the issues on the agenda," Portman said. "I think they (Canadian officials) are still getting their team in place."
Canadians elected a new Conservative government Jan. 23, and Emerson, a former lumber industry executive, took up the trade minister's job after a controversial post-election switch from the Liberal Party.
Emerson, speaking to reporters in Ottawa, said the refund issue did not come up when he talked with Portman recently, but he added, "I think everybody in this room knows there were rumors of various discussions that went on before Christmas."
The countries were reported to have worked out a tentative proposal that would have had the United States refund about 75 percent of the duties in return for Canada's major lumber producing provinces using production quotas.
Sources said the idea stumbled because the production limits being eyed were too unpopular with provincial and industry officials, and all trade discussions went on hold as the election began.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is scheduled to meet with US President George W Bush and Mexican President Vincente Fox in Cancun March 30-31
