A nasty trade ‘irritant’ interrupts Trudeau’s visit

The trade dispute has to do with the expiration of a trade agreement allowing softwood lumber, which is used to build houses, from Canada into the states. The two countries have been fighting over the wood on and off for three decades.

Trudeau said the two countries are “on track to resolve this irritant” in a matter of weeks and months.

Obama seconded: “Its been a long-standing bilateral irritant, but hardly defines the nature of the U.S.-Canadian relationship. This issue of softwood lumber will get resolved in some fashion. Our teams are already making progress on it.”

Nevertheless, Obama said the solution will “undoubtedly” come at “the disatisfaction of all parties concerned, because that’s the nature of these kinds of things.”

“Each side will want 100 percent and we’ll find a way for each side to get 60 percent of what they need,” Obama said. “People will complain and grumble but it will be fine.”

Obama and Trudeau made progress on key issues Thursday involving the Arctic and climate change, as well as immigration and the Mideast, where both leaders appeared to demonstrate an unprecedented level of cooperation in acting together as global leaders.

The lumber dispute was one area where they could not say they had reached an agreement. The issue has received little press in the U.S., but in Canada it has been of major significance especially in the western part of the country where forestry is a big industry.

A popular op-ed that ran in the Vancouver Sun earlier this week said Trudeau should forget the U.S. and focus on building markets for its lumber products in China and India.

“The more customers we have, the less reliant we are on the U.S., reducing the impact trade action on their part has on us,” wrote Naomi Christensen, a policy analyst with the nonpartisan think tank Canada West Foundation. “This in turn decreases their negotiating leverage, increasing our ability to get a more favourable softwood agreement.”