(Reuters) – Ottawa on Tuesday filed a notice to challenge U.S. duties on Canadian softwood lumber under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal, Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement.
Canada’s softwood lumber industry is a key component of the country’s forestry sector, which contributed more than $25 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product in 2020. The United States nearly doubled the duties on it to 17.9% last month.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Porter)