16 WESTERN PALLET
WTO Delivers Mixed Softwood Ruling, Canada Appeals
The World Trade Organization ruled in a mixed decision this April that the U.S. violated international trade rules in the way it calculated tariffs on Canadian imports of softwood lumber in a key dispute.
The decision also provided a boost to the U.S.’s use of a controversial methodology used when calculating anti-dumping duties on Canadian lumber, however. In the past, the WTO has struck down American use of the process, called zeroing, which typically results in higher duty margins. That part of the ruling is a victory for the U.S.
“Canada’s forest industry sustains hundreds of thousands of good, middle-class jobs in communities across our country,” Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement announcing Canada's appeal of the WTO decision. “We firmly believe that the U.S. duties on Canadian softwood lumber are unfair and unwarranted. That is why we are challenging these duties at the WTO and under NAFTA.” She described zeroing as “a method of calculating and applying artificially high and unfair duty rates, inconsistent with WTO rules.”
“The WTO rules do not prohibit ‘zeroing’,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a separate statement, saying that any previous WTO appellate body decisions that prohibit zeroing are erroneous and not binding. “The United States commends this panel for doing its own interpretive analysis, and for having the courage to stand up to the undue pressure that the appellate body has been putting on panels for many years.”
2019 Excellence in Reusable Packaging Award: Call for Applications
Applications for the 8th annual Reusable Packaging Association (RPA) Excellence in Reusable Packaging award are now being accepted. The award recognizes primary (end) user companies and organizations that have developed and implemented measurable and innovative reusable transport packaging (including pallet) solutions in their supply chain. The application form is available on the RPA website at reusables.org. Submissions are due by June 15.