Supply Chain Research

The softwood lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada continues to be a pre-NAFTA negotiation challenge. The U.S. wants a new agreement completed before the NAFTA talks start in August, while the Canadian government sees a result being “a long way away”. This is a big issue for Canada as forestry represents 8% of all exports in the past quarter. Total U.S. imports jumped 32% on a year earlier in April to hit a new high of $651 million. That may reflect Canadian exporters including Interfor and West Fraser seeking to beat new tariffs. Seaborne data for May suggests a slowdown is already...