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U.S. timber giant sides with Canadians in import dispute

Monday, April 22, 2002 | 9:52 a.m.

SEATTLE -- Weyerhaeuser Co., the biggest global producer of lumber for construction, has asked arbitrators to rule on whether tariffs imposed by the U.S. on Canadian softwood lumber imports violate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The U.S. company joined the Canadian government and companies including Canfor Corp., Canada's largest lumber producer, in seeking to overturn the average 29 percent duties on spruce, pine and fir two-by-fours and other lumber.

The duties are "based on deeply flawed trade law and methodology designed to erect protectionist barriers," said Steven R. Rogel, Weyerhaeuser's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "The right way to resolve this dispute is for the U.S. and Canadian governments to negotiate a long-term, workable and enduring solution that accounts for broader interests on both sides of the border."

The U.S. set the duties on $6 billion of Canadian lumber imports last month.

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