October 31, 2005 (3:45 p.m. EST)
No. 202

STATEMENT BY MINISTER PETERSON:
CANADA TO STAY THE COURSE ON SOFTWOOD LUMBER

International Trade Minister Jim Peterson today issued the following statement after a meeting with Canada’s legal team to take stock of Canada’s softwood lumber litigation actions in the United States:

“Canada has been pursuing numerous legal challenges of the unjust U.S. duties on Canadian softwood lumber under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and before the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the U.S. Court of International Trade. I would like to thank our legal team for all its hard work since this round of the dispute began in April 2001. I would also like to congratulate the team on all of its litigation successes, in particular, Canada’s unanimous victory before the NAFTA Extraordinary Challenge Committee (ECC) in August.

“During our meeting, I confirmed that Canada will—and must—stay the course on litigation and pursue all appropriate options to ensure that NAFTA is respected and duties are returned to Canadians.  

“Canada’s central legal focus is the challenge before the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), a challenge that is intended to force U.S. compliance with U.S. law and with the NAFTA Extraordinary Challenge Committee outcome.

“We will vigorously defend Canadian interests in the challenge to the constitutionality of NAFTA Chapter 19, launched by the U.S. Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports.

“With this in mind, we have retained a top-flight legal team to advance Canada’s case at the CIT.

“Jean Anderson, our lead counsel, is a co-chair of Weil Gotshal’s Washington-based trade group. Before entering into private practice, Ms. Anderson was Chief Counsel for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce. In that position, she was a principal negotiator of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and a primary architect of the NAFTA Chapter 19 dispute settlement system.

“Also engaged is Seth Waxman, who served as Solicitor General of the United States from 1997 to 2001. He was lead counsel in our successful ECC litigation.

“Canada is continuing its NAFTA challenges to the original U.S. countervailing and antidumping determinations, as well as its WTO challenges of the U.S. injury, subsidy and dumping determinations.

“On October 28, instead of following the instructions of a NAFTA subsidy panel and issuing a new countervailing duty determination, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) filed a motion with the panel requesting clarification on its October 5 remand instructions. Canada strongly regrets this delay, but we are confident that the NAFTA panel will act fairly and respond as soon as possible.

“The Canadian government is committed to pursuing all options—litigation, retaliation and advocacy, as well as expanding markets elsewhere—in anticipation of any U.S. action.

As Prime Minister Paul Martin has said, “if we have to keep pressuring the Americans, we will.”

“On August 10, 2005, the NAFTA ECC ruled that some $5 billion in duties must be returned to Canadians. The United States has since refused to abide by this ruling, citing a legal technicality.” 

Today, in Toronto, Minister Peterson is also meeting with leading members of Canada’s business community to discuss the integrity of NAFTA and the concerns that U.S. actions have raised.

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For further information, media representatives may contact:

Jacqueline LaRocque
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of International Trade
(613) 992-7332

Media Relations Office
International Trade Canada
(613) 995-1874
http://www.international.gc.ca