RELEASE:
COCHRAN, WICKER PRESSURE OBAMA ON CANADIAN SOFTWOOD LUMBER EXPORTS
Canadian Foot-Dragging on Lumber Agreement Affects Industry in U.S. &
Mississippi
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker
(R-Miss.) are among a bipartisan group of Senators pressuring the Obama
administration to make progress with Canada on a new softwood lumber
agreement to protect U.S. timber jobs and communities.
Cochran and Wicker signed a letter to President Obama that encourages the
administration to remain firm in negotiations to reach an agreement that
addresses the effects of subsidized Canadian lumber exports to the United
States. The Magnolia State lawmakers signed the letter to signal the
importance of not allowing subsidized exports to diminish the $1.1 billion
forestry industry in Mississippi.
“The overall health of the American timber industry has direct effect on
mills and forestry jobs in Mississippi. Any agreement that does not
adequately address the government subsidies granted by Canada would be
unfair to our workers and rural communities,” Cochran said.
“A fair trade agreement between Canada and the United States is critical to
the lumber industry in Mississippi,” Wicker said. “The Administration needs
to negotiate a deal that protects American jobs from being undercut by
subsidies that help prop up their Canadian competition.”
Forest products produced on Mississippi’s 19.7 million acres of forestland
generated $1.16 billion in 2015, an increase of $138 million over the
preceding year, according to the Mississippi State University Division of
Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine.
The letter, led by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho),
stresses that a new agreement should be consistent with a joint statement
signed by the President and Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau in June.
The Senators’ letter is critical of reluctance by Canadian negotiators to
adhere to the goals of the joint statement.
“Hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs and thousands of U.S. rural communities
depend on fairness in trade in softwood lumber. That is why we will
continue to urge you, and any future Administration, to seek a fair,
effective, and sustainable agreement with Canada on softwood lumber trade,
and in the absence of such an agreement, to fully enforce U.S. trade laws,”
the Senators wrote.
10/25/16
