The Globe and Mail reports that Canadian negotiators are willing to give up some ground and move some of their demands closer to the hard-line US softwood lobby. The Canadian counter-offer proposes that Canadian softwood shipments be allowed to enter the US duty-free until they reach a 32 percent share of the US market. Canada also proposed that the duties collected since 2001 to be returned to Canadian producers.
Over the last two years, Canadian softwood producers have been forced to pay the US government millions in punitive fees because Washington believed that provinces subsidized the lumber production.