Katrine Conroy, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, has issued the following statement in support of the Government of Canada’s decision today to challenge the final results of the second administrative review of the U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on softwood lumber from Canada:

“On Nov. 24, 2021, the United States increased duties from 8.99% to 17.9% on most Canadian softwood lumber producers, an unwarranted move that nearly doubled the previous tariff.

“We unreservedly support the decision today by the federal government to issue a Notice of Intent to challenge these unfair and unjustified duties on Canadian softwood lumber under Chapter 10 of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.

“We have been working tirelessly to vigorously defend British Columbia’s softwood lumber industry and the 50,000 hard-working people in our forest sector against these unwarranted duties.

“British Columbia is again urging the United States to reject these unfair duties on Canadian softwood lumber.

“We believe that the upcoming challenge will once again result in a ruling in Canada’s favour, and we look forward to continuing to work with the federal government to advance our mutual interests on this vitally important trade file.”