Canada has denounced the United States for imposing import duties on its some softwood lumber exports.
“U.S. duties on Canadian softwood lumber are unfair, unwarranted and troubling. They are harmful to Canada’s lumber producers, workers and communities,” Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement.
The U.S. Commerce Department said that Canadian softwood lumber is subsidized and exported to the United States at less than market value.
The anti-dumping and anti-subsidy import duties went into effect on Wednesday, ranging from about 10 percent to nearly 24 percent on imports of certain Canadian softwood lumber products, commonly used in the construction industry.
Canada launched two challenges against the duties last year through the World Trade Organization (WTO) and under the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the trilateral trade deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico.