can we have our $5 billion back please?

[Glorious Amok]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... /National/

[mousey1]

And wouldn't that be nice!!!

Only fair really!!!

I smell a bully and it doesn't smell sweet
in fact it fucking reeks
reeks to high heaven.

No way to treat a good neighbour!!!

Hrrrrruuuummmmppppphhhhhh!

Screwed in the ass again! Well hopefully they'll come to their senses....their dollars and cents'.

Return your unjust gains Goliath or little weeny David shall pop you in the eye!

[Glorious Amok]

you know, what pisses me off the most is that this is the game that they created. they made up a bunch of rules, and we've all been trying to play along nicely for ELEVEN YEARS NOW, and then they go and blow off the rules like they never heard of em before.

they're acting like jerky highschool bullies. the kind that tell you, "hey, show us your new watch" and when you do, they punch you in the face and steal it, and run away laughing.

yes, when i think of washington, i think of that kid in the black t-shirt on the simpsons.

[stilltrucking]

Mexico:
Can we have the the one third of our country back that you ripped off. California, new mexico, arizona, nevada, colorado utah, and wyoming. You can keep texas.

[jimboloco]

Is softwood a major Canadian exort to America?

[Glorious Amok]

The softwood lumber trade between the United States and Canada is one of the leading forest products trade flows in the world. Since 1996, exports from the four major softwood lumber producing provinces in Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec) into the US have been regulated by the Voluntary Export Restraint (VER) as defined within the "Softwood Lumber Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of America" (SLA). The SLA allows Canadian producers to export up to 14.7 billion board feet (bbf) of softwood lumber without export fee and imposes high export fees on volumes exceeding the limit. The SLA is a temporary resolution of the trade dispute between the two countries that has lasted for more than fifteen years and it is set to expire on March 31st, 2001.

***

I sense that since THIS agreement expired in 2001, and this $5 billion has been finagled since 2002, that the US may be using the expiration of the SLA as their leg to stand on. However, the panel has judged them 3 times as being liable for the money!

[mousey1]

[Glorious Amok]

Softwood dispute endangers NAFTA, B.C. chamber writes U.S. counterparts
Posted 8/29/2005

VANCOUVER (CP) - The B.C. Chamber of Commerce is asking its U.S. counterparts to lobby President George W. Bush and urge resolution to the softwood lumber dispute before it wrecks the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In the letter, chamber president John Winter said NAFTA is in trouble because of the longstanding trade war over lumber. "NAFTA has brought a wave of economic progress unprecedented in our times, but increasing trade protectionism is putting those benefits at risk," Winter said in a news release Monday.

He called on chambers in all 50 states to urge Bush to respect its obligations under NAFTA and move quickly to a negotiated settlement on softwood.

Canadian politicians and forest industry executives have been in an uproar since U.S. trade officials indicated earlier this month they would not comply with a final NAFTA appeal. It found Canadian lumber imports into the United States posed no threat of injury to American producers.

The Canadians believe the ruling removes the justification for punitive duties imposed in May 2002 after U.S. mill owners filed their fourth trade complaint in two decades claiming Canadian softwood is subsidized.

U.S. Customs has collected more than $5 billion in duties so far, at a current rate of $100 million a month.

Canada suspended negotiations after the American decision to ignore the ruling.

"You should be aware that immense pressure is mounting for Canada to respond with retaliatory tariffs against certain American exports destined for Canada," Winter says in the letter. "None of us can allow this to occur."

He pointed out this is the first time the United States has ignored a unanimous extraordinary challenge ruling "and thus threatens the very existence of the treaty.

"Chamber of Commerce members on both sides of the border have much to lose if this vital trade agreement falls apart."

NAFTA has produced unprecedented economic progress, Winter writes. U.S.-Canada bilateral trade last year totalled $570 billion US and 37 states count Canada as their No. 1 foreign customer.

That prosperity is threatened by a small group of U.S. lumber producers who have successfully pressured American lawmakers, Winter writes.

"Your letter to President Bush today can help bring common sense to bear so that our two countries can resolve this dispute quickly and fairly."