The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Background on the softwood-lumber tariff:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-plans-to-impose-20-tariff-on-canadian-soft-lumber-imports-1493075372

The trade row between the U.S. and Canada over lumber dates back decades, although the countries reached a standstill through a bilateral deal struck in 2006 that stopped the U.S. from imposing additional duties. Under that arrangement, which expired in late 2015, Canadian forest producers agreed to accept either a quota on U.S.-bound exports or pay a tax on goods shipped to the U.S. in exchange for no tariffs.

The U.S. lumber industry filed a complaint last fall to the Commerce Department, alleging that Canadian lumber is unfairly dumped—or sold at less than market value—into the U.S. market and that Canada heavily subsidizes its timber industry by offering Pacific Coast producers access to wood from government-owned land at below-market prices.