U.S. Lumber Coalition Shows Desperation in Softwood Lumber Dispute
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U.S. Lumber Coalition Files Nuisance Lawsuit
Today, as expected, the U.S. Coalition for
Fair Lumber Imports filed a constitutional challenge to the binational panel
dispute settlement system under the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), referred to as “Chapter 19.”
This is nothing more than a nuisance
lawsuit, and illustrates just how far the Coalition is willing to go to
needlessly extend the litigation in the softwood lumber dispute rather than
offering constructive ways to resolve it.<.p>
The Coalition challenge is a response to the decision of a NAFTA
binational panel that overturned a ruling by the U.S. International Trade
Commission that Canadian lumber exports threatened to injure the U.S.
industry. A NAFTA Extraordinary Challenge Committee convened at the request of
the United States unanimously affirmed the NAFTA panel ruling last month.
The Coalition continues to believe that it should have won these cases
instead of losing them, so it has now opted to sue its own government. No
litigant ever likes to lose a case, either before a binational panel or a
federal court. But this is no reason to challenge the constitutionality of the
forum.
The Canadian Lumber Trade Alliance (CLTA) fully supports the binational
dispute resolution process under the NAFTA and is confident that the United
States will vigorously defend its constitutionality in court.
Attacking the NAFTA will not help resolve the long-lasting softwood
lumber dispute and the CLTA would prefer that this needless litigation be
avoided. But if it must go forward, the CLTA welcomes the opportunity to have
the Coalition’s frivolous allegations put to rest once and for all so that
future binational panels will not confront the uncertainty that the claim of
unconstitutionality imposes.
The CLTA continues to maintain that the Canadian softwood lumber industry
is not subsidized and will vigorously continue to defend its rights through
litigation until a long-term resolution can be reached.
@ September 13, 2005