U.S. Wants New Softwood Talks: Emerson

"Given the complexity of the agreement, we expected that such administrative issues would arise,'' Emerson said in the release. "For this reason, the agreement contained a new framework to allow for a full exchange of views. "This is a good opportunity for Canada and the United States to once again work closely and to work through our disagreements in a constructive manner.'' Emerson said he had spoken with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and both have directed their respective officials to plan for a meeting within 20 days. U.S. trade officials signalled weeks ago they were unhappy with government programs — particularly in Ontario and Quebec — aimed at helping their struggling forest industries. Canadian and American officials met in Washington in February. The provinces said at the time they would show their programs did not subsidize lumber exports — the American complaint at the heart of the decades-old lumber trade war. The surge mechanism calls for penalties equal to 150 per cent of the border tax in any one month if an exporter exceeds its set quota. There have been some questions about how exports are reported at the border. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/03/31/softwood.html [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on April 2, 2007]

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