A trade dispute over glossy paper will continue with an appeal to the World Trade Organization, even though the United States announced last month that it had ended countervailing duties on Canadian producers.
The WTO announced Monday that the U.S. Commerce Department had filed an appeal of a WTO panel ruling on July 5, one day before the American government announced it would revoke the duties and repay companies with interest.
But U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on July 6 that the WTO ruling was the latest example of “judicial activism.”
Lighthizer also said the WTO panel report undermined U.S. legal grounds to combat “unfairly subsidized imports that disadvantage our workers and businesses.”
The WTO panel had largely ruled in favour of Canadian producers of supercalendared paper, which is mainly used in magazines, catalogues, corporate brochures and advertising inserts.
The main U.S. producer of the glossy paper stock, Verso Corp., also told the U.S. commerce secretary in March that it was no longer interested in continuing with the duties following a settlement with some Canadian producers.