Slight mitigation

The Comox Valley Record reports that thanks to plenty of media attention and the work of NDP MP Catherine Bell (among other factors), at least some of the damage of the softwood lumber capitulation was reduced in the final draft, as some Canadian remanufacturers managed to avoid paying tariffs on value added to raw lumber:

After fighting and fretting for months about the impact softwood lumber tariffs were having on his value-added wood-flooring manufacturing company, Roscoe has been given a break.

“We actually got it pushed through,” said Roscoe about a new category that will protect a lot of his company’s value-added work from the tariff.

Under the heading of certified independent remanufacturer, Roscoe will now be charged softwood tariffs on only the raw wood he uses, not on the finished project as he was before.

“The certification is only available for independent lumber remanufacturers who don’t have tenures to log,” he said...

Earlier this year Roscoe got caught up in the softwood lumber debate when his products made of soft woods (even though it wasn’t purchased by the stumpage-fee lots of most concern in the trade debate) began being charged the same tariff being put to raw logs. The tariff was charged on all the value-added the small Comox company did as well — including staining, matching ends and more...

After Roscoe and Woodland Flooring were profiled in the Comox Valley Record, North Island MP Catherine Bell took up the cause, even speaking of it in the House of Commons. Roscoe said it was with her help that this category was made.

Despite the good news for one constituent Bell has said in her year-end report that the softwood lumber deal with the United States was a low spot she felt for Parliament’s fall session. For North Island communities as a whole, she said, the deal is bad news.

“We’re really pleased that there is some relief there, but we’ll continue to watch closely,” said Bell about other impacts of the softwood agreement. She said she remains concerned about the future of both small and large industry — and will be paying particular attention to raw log exports in the new year.

It seems clear that the exemption was narrowly drawn for cases like Roscoe's, as there's no apparent reason why a single entity which both logs and carries out value-added operations should have to pay a tariff on its value-added component (as still appears to be the case). And of course the remanufacturing issue is dwarfed by the billion-dollar giveaway and the loss of sovereignty entailed by the larger capitulation. But at the very least, it's good news to see that some action was taken to ensure that the tariff system doesn't completely wipe out any prospect of value-added exports.

(h/t BC in TO.)