In agreement

A scathing report came out today condemning the application of the Byrd amendment. Which wouldn't be surprising, if the report wasn't from the U.S.' Government Accountability Office:

A U.S. government study says a contentious law that allows American companies to profit from penalties levied on imports from Canada and other countries has created an unfair “millionaires' club.”...

Nearly half of the $1-billion (U.S.) in duty payments has gone to only five companies, and two-thirds of all payments have gone to only three industries.

Recipients do not use the money to create new jobs in the United States and some spend it on personal expenses, the report says.

The article notes that the softwood lumber tariff hasn't actually resulted in money being paid out to U.S. producers, but that the money now being held by U.S. customs pending resolution of the dispute dwarfs the amount paid out so far.

Based on the precedents noted in the report, there isn't any sound argument that any meaningfully large group of American, including U.S. lumber producers' employees, would benefit in the least from distribution of the softwood tariffs. The only real question in determining what to do with the money already collected is whether or not the U.S. wants to firmly entrench lumber producers in the "millionaires' club". And until the U.S. sends a signal that the previously agreed-upon flow of trade is more important than that club's expansion, there's no reason to listen to demands that Canada go back to the bargaining table.