Canada announced Monday it will appeal the World Trade Organization's approval of a controversial method the US uses for calculating tariffs in a trade spat over lumber.

A WTO Dispute Settlement Body panel last week rejected Ottawa's argument that the US use of the method known as "zeroing" violated international trade rules.

In a statement, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said: "The WTO has ruled more than 20 times (in the past) that zeroing, a method of calculating and applying artificially high and unfair duty rates, is inconsistent with WTO rules."

The United States has repeatedly lost cases before the WTO over its use of zeroing, which calculates the price of imports compared to the normal value in the United States to determine predatory pricing.

But in its ruling last Tuesday, the WTO panel "agreed with the United States that such type of zeroing is permissible" in cases where targeted dumping is suspected.

The repeated rulings by the WTO appeals body especially against the use of zeroing had been one of Washington's main complaints against the global trade body.

It is one of the issues mentioned by Washington to justify its blocking of appointments of new judges to the appellate branch of a WTO dispute panel, which could force it to shut down by the end of this year.

Canadian softwood lumber has been a source of conflict in US-Canadian trade for more than three decades.

Ottawa brought its latest trade dispute with the United States over the US softwood lumber tariffs to the WTO in November 2017, after the US Commerce Department slapped duties of up to 18.19 percent on the price of Canadian lumber products.

The administration of US President Donald Trump said the move was warranted after concluding that Canada had unfairly subsidized and dumped the product on the US market.

Freeland called the tariffs "unfair and unwarranted."

Related Links
Forestry News - Global and Local News, Science and Application

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Gabon suspends permit for Chinese logger after watchdog probe
Libreville (AFP) April 12, 2019
Gabon has suspended a logging licence issued to a Chinese timber company after a British watchdog group, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), accused the firm of bribery and breaches of forestry laws. The EIA, in a report on March 25, said Dejia Group "routinely bribes ministers" in Gabon and the neighbouring Republic of Congo. The group has "continuously broken the most fundamental forest laws, has turned timber trade regulations upside-down, and has diverted millions in unpaid taxes" ... read more