U.S. industry urges Bush to press for end to Canadian lumber subsidy

U.S. industry urges Bush to press for end to Canadian lumber subsidy    At the urging of the U.S. lumber business, President Bush is expected to ask Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin this week to end his government’s practice of subsidizing Canada’s lumber industry.
   U.S. lumber producers say the subsidies have encouraged dumping of Canadian lumber products on the U.S. market.
   “The (Canadian) provinces provide their lumber companies with timber for a fraction of its value,” said W.J. “Rusty” Wood, chairman of the Washington-based Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, in a statement Tuesday. “They encourage dumping of uneconomically produced lumber in the U.S. market. And the unfair imports have destroyed hundreds of sawmills, taken jobs from thousands of workers, and undermined the livelihoods of millions of family tree farms.”
   The lumber trade battle between the U.S. and Canadian governments has been on-going for nearly 20 years.
   Last week, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled for the fourth time since 2002 that Canadian lumber imports unfairly harm the U.S. industry. In addition, the U.S. government initiated a review last week by an “extraordinary challenge committee” of a North American Free Trade Agreement binational panel decision on the threat-of-injury issue.