Max Baucus: “I rise today to focus attention on the ongoing softwood lumber dispute between the United States and Canada. I believe…”

“I rise today to focus attention on the ongoing softwood lumber dispute between the United States and Canada. I believe we have an excellent opportunity to permanently remove this blemish on our strong bilateral trade relationship. In the past 3 months, the U.S. Department of Commerce found that the Canadian Government unfairly subsidizes this lumber industry and then dumps those products in the U.S. market, both of which are prohibited by U.S. law. These activities have caused unprecedented upsets in the U.S. market, resulting in record low prices, disruption in supply, mill closures, layoffs, people out of work. Good jobs in my State of Montana and across the Nation have been put at risk by Canada's foul play. Now is the time to bring this matter to resolution once and for all. The U.S. negotiators have a meeting with their Canadian counterparts to work out what is a desirable solution. As I have stated many times before, this solution must completely offset the subsidies and dumping. It must bring true competition to the marketplace and must take into consideration the cross-border and environmental issues with the objective of a truly level playing field. With that said, the offers of our neighbors to the north have been, to date, short of the mark. If we are serious about resolving the issue, the Canadians need to put something on the table, something that reflects a true, open, competitive market for softwood lumber.”