US wants new softwood lumber talks

[darkbeaver]

Sunday, April 01 2007 @ 11:10 AM MDT
U.S. wants new softwood talks: Emerson


U.S. wants new softwood talks: Emerson

Last Updated: Saturday, March 31, 2007 | 10:03 AM ET
The Canadian Press
The United States is requesting consultations with Canada under the Softwood Lumber Agreement reached last fall.

In a news release late Friday, International Trade Minister David Emerson said the United States wants to talk about federal and provincial forestry programs and the so-called surge mechanism, which penalizes exporters if they ship above their set quotas.

Emerson said the agreement, which the Conservative government hammered out over the objections of some industry segments, was negotiated with the view of continued co-operation and open dialogue between the U.S. and Canada.

"Given the complexity of the agreement, we expected that such administrative issues would arise,'' Emerson said in the release. "For this reason, the agreement contained a new framework to allow for a full exchange of views.

"This is a good opportunity for Canada and the United States to once again work closely and to work through our disagreements in a constructive manner.''

Emerson said he had spoken with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and both have directed their respective officials to plan for a meeting within 20 days.

U.S. trade officials signalled weeks ago they were unhappy with government programs — particularly in Ontario and Quebec — aimed at helping their struggling forest industries.

Canadian and American officials met in Washington in February. The provinces said at the time they would show their programs did not subsidize lumber exports — the American complaint at the heart of the decades-old lumber trade war.

The surge mechanism calls for penalties equal to 150 per cent of the border tax in any one month if an exporter exceeds its set quota.

There have been some questions about how exports are reported at the border.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/03/31/softwood.html

 

[BitWhys]

nothing to complain about. we must have got our billion dollars worth by now.:lol:

 

[darkbeaver]

nothing to complain about. we must have got our billion dollars worth by now.:lol:

Where did the billion go, stay, endup, trickle down to or can I think about it like that?:smile:

 

[BitWhys]

Half of it went towards funding the professionals on the other side of the conversations Emerson is so pleased about having. again.

 

[#juan]

Where did the billion go, stay, endup, trickle down to or can I think about it like that?:smile:

Most of it went to American lumber concerns as a subsidy......They must have spent it and now need more...:angryfire:

 

[BitWhys]

They're lobby groups. The only way the CAN spend it is by causing trouble.

 

[darkbeaver]

So somebodys going to get screwed again right?

 

[CDNBear]

Crown land wood requires a stumpage fee of %70 of market value while the fee for timber from private woodlots is 100%.

There's one problem.

Compounded by

In the softwood lumber case the U.S. Department of Commerce determined that 70 to 90 percent of the softwood harvest in the Canadian provinces comes from public lands. The Commerce Department also said that minimum cut requirements on public lands have the potential to depress prices. The Department then said, "Since stumpage fees on [Canadian] public lands are the price driver for the stumpage market in those Provinces, we conclude that the stumpage fees on [Canadian] private lands are largely derivative of the [Canadian] public land prices and are therefore distorted."

That equals a subsidy to the US.

And I would agree.

 

[BitWhys]

So somebodys going to get screwed again right?

Nobody in the fascist circles who didn't agree to the deal in the first place so to hell with them.

 

[MikeyDB]

Canadians should remember that the United States has taken a clear stand on exposing and ridding the world of Weapons of Mass Deforestation.....

The battle in Iraq over WMDs has raged on now for years and its only appropriate that the United States continues its battle against WMDs closer to home....

Man...you got to love those American businessmen who of course aren't responsbible in any way shape or form for any Anti-Americanism...the infamous plague eroding our long friendship with our good neibors to the south....

How does anyone expect the U.S. to live up to their credo of walk softly and carry a big stick...if Canadians won't happily bend over and give them the stick?....

 

[Sparrow]

This will never stop because the wood industry in the US want complete control of their market.

Our industry needs to find markets elsewhere for our wood. I am sure that many other countries would be interested. I do believe we do sell to other countries but we could do more. As it is now our industry suffers everytime the construction market in the US has a downward trend and we do need other customers to take up the slack.

We bent over for them once, NEVER AGAIN!

 

[MikeyDB]

It seems only appropriate that the American lumber industy want's special privileges... we've all been assurred by the EPA and Al Gore and many others that global warming is a myth...that human production of greenhouse gasses is nonesense...so what's the problem in cutting down thousands of acres of old-growth forest? MacDonalds has been sponsoring the eradication of the Amazon River basin old-growth forests for decades...

I suppose the next argument we'll hear from the "global warming is a myth" crowd is that denuding the world of the forests that have cleaned our atmosphere for centuries is just as natural as burning a gazilliion gallons of fossil fuels has been...... Yeah why get upset about what's perfectly normal and natural when it comes to destroying a planet....?

 

[Toro]

we've all been assurred by the EPA and Al Gore and many others that global warming is a myth...

Is this sarcasm?

 

[MikeyDB]

Yup

 

[I think not]

Boohoo, the poor Canadians are being exploited by the evil empire, boohoo!

Grow the **** up and learn what the hell you are all talking about, because so far, every post is out of whack. Stop whining and start learning. :roll:

 

[CDNBear]

So is this what it has come down to?

When the reasons, reasons that seem to indicate a form of corporate welfare, that most of you US bashers hate oh so much, is exposed you just go and ignore it?

Is that because you just plain have nothing to refute it, or you just like whining about the big bad US?

There's one problem.

Compounded by


That equals a subsidy to the US.

And I would agree.

 

[BitWhys]

That you would accept the artificial emulation an otherwise redundant middle man to offset the unrealized gains of Canada's superior stumpage system certainly emphasizes who and what it is you are willing to serve. That you think it worthwhile to drag up old arguments instead of dealing with current agreements is in itself reactionary.

 

[CDNBear]

That you would accept the artificial emulation an otherwise redundant middle man to offset the unrealized gains of Canada's superior stumpage system certainly emphasizes who and what it is you are willing to serve. That you think it worthwhile to drag up old arguments instead of dealing with current agreements is in itself reactionary.

What I am willing to ally myself with, is a market free of corporate welfare and artificialy low stumpage fees.

Reactionary eh? Not even in the slightest. The reaction of the anti US crew and their typical whining is the stuff of reactionary legends.

But the truth is what it is. If avoiding it makes you feel better about whining about the US, oh well.

 

[BitWhys]

...artificialy low stumpage fees...

the feds aren't selling at a loss so the fees don't need to be any higher.

 

[CDNBear]

the feds aren't selling at a loss so the fees don't need to be any higher.

Selling at a loss?

Do you know of what you speak?

Do you now what stumpage fees are?

Do you even know how these fees are manipulated by lot devaluing?