b'SEPTEMBER 28 - OCTOBER 11, 2020forest products 21(DISPUTEcontinued fromrecently decided to restore a page 20) 10% national security tariff Stateshasbeensayingforon exports of Canadian alu-years: the WTO dispute set- minum,accusingthenorth-tlement system is being usedern neighbor of violating the to shield nonmarket practicesterms of the 2018 agreement and harm U.S. interests. Thethat saw steel and aluminum panelsfindingswouldpre- tariffs rescinded. The Trump venttheUnitedStatesfromAdministrationeventually takinglegitimateactioninbacked off the tariffs but the responsetoCanadasper- serendipitousbehaviorstill vasive subsidies for its soft- stingsinCanada. Andthere wood lumber industry. arewiderissues.Giventhe Naturally Canadian Min- administrationsdistainfor isterofNaturalResourcesthe WTO, the lumber dispute andForestry,JohnYaka- could well become a pretense buskisremarkspushedthefor the US to drop out of the debateinanotherdirection,internationalforumandan This [the panel decision] isunravelingoftheinterna-animportantstepinensur- tional trading system. ingtheongoingsuccessofm arketd emaNdour forestry industries, which playanimportantpartinAgainstthisgloomy oureconomy.Aswemovepoliticalbackdrop,business towardseconomicrecovery,isboomingforlumberandIn the United States, the two-man crosscut saw used for logging in the old days was nicknamed the misery whipit has never been more impor- lumberproducts.Lumberaptly dubbed as day-long sawing with the device resulted in muscle-aching misery.tant to vigorously defend andproduct prices are soaring as aplies due to Covid-19 impactsfires in the Western parts ofstarttotheyear,pent-up encourage this sector. result of a rebound in demandon mill production earlier inthe US. (DISPUTEcontinued on coupledwithtightenedsup- the year and the recent wildAfteradismalCovid-19page 22)P aNeld iscussioNsFollowingtheWTOs Augustproclamation,by mandate,theUShassixty days to file an appealwhich would seem likely in view of theTrumpAdministrations post-decision posturing.If,asexpected,theUS files a challenge to the pan-elsruling,thecasewillbe renderedintoalegallimbo withtheendresultthatthe half a dozen Canadian lumber exporterstotheUSwillbe denied any tariff relief. The matter is further com-plicated by the wrangling over the appellate panel. The WTO tribunalhasbeenhindered bythelossofaquorumof membersneededtoconsider trade rulings.In 2019 the US triggered panel paralysis fol-lowing the loss of an appeal inwhichtheUSarguedthe appellate panel had exceeded itsjurisdictionbyrulingon issuestheUSconsideredto beoutsideitspurview.Sub-sequently,thepanelwhich originallyconsistedofnine members and needed five to function was through attrition reducedtofourandfinally only three members that took part in the decision. The US blocked replacing the vacated seats, leaving the panel short of a quorum. This neutralized thepanelandleftthestatus quoUS tariffsin place. To counter the panel paral-ysis,theEU,Canada,China andotherWTOmembers established an interim arbitra-tion system to reconcile trade disputes. Thus, the WTO panel was then given permission to functionwithoutaquorum which in turn was appealed by the US an appeal that was denied setting the stage for the August lumber ruling and the US response. The ruling also comes at a potentially vexing time for US-Canadatraderelations. While the USMCA promised to improve trans-border trade, theTrumpadministration'