Merkley: La decisión de arbitraje sobre la madera blanda es una victoria para la industria maderera y los trabajadores estadounidenses

Portland, Oregón – After the London Court of International Arbitration ruled today that Canada breached the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA), Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley praised the decision and urged progress in pending arbitrations.  The tribunal agreed that Canada unfairly subsidized the Canadian softwood lumber industry in violation of the agreement, harming the American timber industry.

“The timber industry is a central component of Oregon’s economy and a fundamental part of our state’s identity,” Merkley said.  “Canada’s breach of this trade agreement has harmed the timber industry and jeopardized the livelihoods of Oregon workers.  It’s disappointing that we’ve had to resort to arbitration to ensure fair prices on Canadian timber exports, but today’s decision is a positive result for the American timber industry.  It is my hope that the tribunal can move quickly to consider the other unresolved SLA arbitration requests in order to restore fairness to the North American lumber trade.”

Earlier this week, Merkley offered his support to Ambassador Kirk’s decision to request SLA arbitration with Canada regarding the under-pricing of timber harvested from public lands in British Columbia.  Today’s decision is the result of a separate arbitration request.  The British Columbia arbitration request is still pending. 

Over the past year, Senator Merkley has pushed the Obama Administration to take a strong stand against Canadian violations of the Softwood Lumber Agreement.  In una llamada telefónica individual en septiembre de 2010, el Senador Merkley instó al Embajador Kirk a solicitar consultas formales para abordar la violación de Canadá del Acuerdo de Madera Blanda de 2006. Luego de esa llamada, Estados Unidos solicitó consultas formales con Canadá bajo el SLA. Según la oficina del Representante Comercial de EE. UU., se realizaron consultas en octubre de 2010, pero no se resolvió el asunto. 

Al proporcionar madera propiedad del gobierno a las empresas madereras canadienses a un precio significativamente inferior al valor de mercado, la Columbia Británica se ha involucrado en una competencia desleal y ha puesto en peligro a los trabajadores estadounidenses ya la industria maderera del país.