In 2009, the tribunal found that Canada did not correctly calculate quotas in the first half of 2007 and should impose approximately $68 million in additional export duties.

In January 2011, the LCIA found some Quebec and Ontario programs to aid the lumber industry breached the Softwood Lumber Agreement.

The USTR office called the 2011 decision a “victory,” but a top Canadian official noted at the time the court also “rejected 97% of the United States’ $1.86-billion claim as having no basis.”

A third U.S.-generated case, dealing with pricing of timber from British Columbia’s Interior region, is pending.

Steve Swanson, chairman of the U.S. Lumber Coalition, which represents lumber producers, said the 2006 pact “is a compromise agreement that is not ideal from the U.S. industry’s perspective.” He added, “Nevertheless, we support extension of this agreement with the expectation that Canada will improve its record of compliance.”

Canadian softwood-lumber exports to the U.S. totaled $2.6 billion in the first 11 months of 2011, according to Canada’s international trade ministry. Shipments from British Columbia accounted for nearly 58% of that amount.

In 2005, the last full year before the original agreement, Canada’s lumber exports to the U.S. were $7.4 billion, using the then-current exchange rate.