Canada's International Trade Minister, Ed Fast, and U.S. Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, signed on Monday a two-year extension to the 2006 Canada-United States Softwood Lumber Agreement.
The Agreement was set to expire on October 12, 2013 and is now prolonged until October 12, 2015. Canada has consulted widely with provincial and industry stakeholders, and they strongly support the extension to 2015.
Although further extensions beyond October 2015 are not explicitly foreseen in the text of the agreement, Canada and the United States intend to consult before that time on whether a further extension would be appropriate. The Government of Canada will consult with the provinces and industry on the next steps before the expiration of the extended agreement.
Softwood lumber is an important sector of the Canada-U.S. bilateral trade relationship. Softwood lumber exports to the U.S. totalled $2.6 billion in the first 11 months of 2011.
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