Major Victory for Canadian Softwood Lumber Team

Steptoe’s International Trade attorneys won another major victory on Friday, October 13, 2006, in the long-running trade dispute over softwood lumber from Canada. 

One day after the governments of Canada and the United States imposed a settlement purportedly ending the dispute, a three-judge panel of the US Court of International Trade (CIT) unanimously ruled that the antidumping and countervailing orders against softwood lumber from Canada first imposed in May 2002 must be revoked ab initio and that the US Government is legally required to refund over $5 billion in duties collected (pursuant to those orders) to the firm's client.

Steptoe’s client, the Canadian Lumber Trade Alliance (CLTA)—an organization representing the majority of the Canadian lumber industry—has taken the lead through four years of proceedings that also included the Canadian and provincial governments and individual companies. 

Although CIT’s decision may ultimately be rendered moot by virtue of the settlement, its opinion goes a long way to resolving an important question of first impression regarding the scope of relief available to prevailing parties in NAFTA proceedings that has been hotly disputed for over a decade. 

Friday’s decision means that parties choosing NAFTA binational panel review are entitled to the same relief available to parties challenging agency action in US courts. 

Congratulations to the Steptoe team which was led by Mark Moran along with Sheldon Hochberg, Tony Epstein, Alice Kipel, and Mike Gershberg.