(Ottawa) The federal government will challenge recent increases in softwood lumber tariffs by the United States.
Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development Mary Ng said Canada has taken steps to launch two legal challenges under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
Mme Ng calls the tariffs unfair and unjust and says they will hurt Canadian industry and increase the cost of housing.
Last month, the U.S. Commerce Department nearly doubled tariffs on lumber, from just over 8 percent to about 14.5 percent.
The U.S.-Canada softwood lumber dispute goes back decades and is a major point of contention for Democrats and Republicans ahead of this fall’s U.S. presidential election.