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Montana’s two U.S. Senators testified Wednesday before a federal commission tasked with investigating Canadian lumber export practices. Sens. Steve Daines (R) and Jon Tester (D) were joined by colleagues from other western states and representatives of American timber producers at a hearing held by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), currently investigating whether Canadian softwood lumber imports have adversely affected U.S. producers.

“The softwood lumber case before you is of utmost importance to Montana’s wood products industry, thousands of Montana jobs, and the state’s economy as a whole,” Daines testified.

Mineral County, he continued, had gone from timber-powered prosperity to having “just a single lumber mill and folks there today are watching the very resources be mismanaged and are facing unfair competition from subsidized Canadian lumber.”

Their testimony marked a step forward for the investigation, and the latest turn in a long-running dispute between the U.S. and Canada about trading this natural resource. For decades, American timber producers have alleged that Canada’s federal and provincial governments unfairly support the country’s timber industry, mainly by setting tree cutting fees lower than America’s.

Tensions over this practice eased in 2006, when the two nations signed the Softwood Lumber Agreement in 2006, with the U.S. agreeing not to introduce new tariffs or trade actions. But that pact expired in 2015, and a replacement has yet to be reached.

From the Daily Inter Lake: http://www.dailyinterlake.com/article/20170913/ARTICLE/170919923