Chretien Raises Energy, Lumber Issues with Bush
dailynews.yahoo.com
By Randall Palmer
Wednesday December 5 6:21 PM ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada said on Wednesday it still aims to reach the basics of a resolution by Christmas in its lumber dispute with the United States, despite news from the White House that the chief U.S. negotiator on the file, Marc Racicot, would now be chairing the Republican Party.
With Racicot, former governor of Montana set to leave his job as lumber envoy by the end of December, Canadian International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew put a bright spin on the news and said the building blocks for an agreement should be ready by Christmas.
``Governor Racicot had himself volunteered this idea that by Christmas we would know whether we have the parameters of an eventual framework of a solution. And I subscribe to that view,'' he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien also stepped into the softwood issue, taking advantage of a phone call from President Bush (news - web sites) to raise the twin issues of free trade in lumber and energy. ``They were not linked, but the prime minister raised both of them,'' a Chretien spokesman said.
``He took the opportunity while he was on the phone...to remind the president of the tremendous resources we have, as a long-term stable energy supplier for the U.S., and also (on) the issue of softwood, that it would be good for all of us to facilitate the free flow of goods.''
A White House official said Chretien and Bush ``touched very briefly'' on the lumber and energy issues. ``It was not a substantive discussion,'' the official said, adding that Bush's focus was on enhancing border security with Canada as part of the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
Canada and the United States signed a sweeping border agreement on Monday designed to tighten security while maintaining the flow of trade across the frontier. U.S. homeland security chief Tom Ridge will visit Canada next Tuesday for talks on joint efforts to fight terrorism.
BILATERAL AGREEMENT
Pettigrew said that it would take ``some weeks'' into the new year to finalize a bilateral agreement on Canadian softwood exports to the United States.
``We will take the time it takes to get a good agreement that will bring in a durable long-term solution. I don't want to be back at it in three, four, five years,'' Pettigrew said.
``I want to solve it for good -- free access for Canadian softwood on the U.S. market.''
A five-year agreement limiting Canadian softwood lumber exports to the United States expired at the end of March, and Washington has since applied duties of around 32 percent on imports of Canadian softwood.
The United States argues that Canada's provincial governments unfairly subsidize their lumber producers. Canada says that the U.S. industry just does not want competition.
Canadian sales of softwood lumber -- including pine, spruce and fir, mostly used in housing construction -- total about $6 billion a year.
Pettigrew said he would be speaking to Racicot in the next few days to assess how close they are to a deal. Over the next week or two Racicot will follow up on specific Canadian proposals.
While the talks proceed with the United States, the World Trade Organization (news - web sites) agreed on Wednesday to a Canadian request to set up a dispute panel to look into U.S. lumber duties.
Chretien's comments to Bush echoed statements he has made in the past that if the United States wants to take advantage of Canada's enormous energy supplies, he should allow Canada's softwood lumber into the United States without obstacles.
Chretien told Bush how energy had frequently come up during a trade mission he had led last week to Texas and California.
Bush placed the 15-minute phone call to Chretien, during which they discussed Afghanistan (news - web sites), and the president thanked Chretien for Canada's contribution to the U.S. led campaign. |
