Tuesday, March 28, 2006

George Bush, softwood lumber and Reuters screwing the pooch.


Sigh. Where to even begin?

Bush eager to resolve lumber row with Canada

President Bush said he is eager to resolve a long-simmering dispute with Canada over softwood lumber, as he prepared for meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Eager? Why? When he can just ignore the clear requirements of NAFTA, what's the rush? Of course, I don't even want to think of what Commander Chimpy means by the word "resolve," but it gets worse:

Both countries have pursued legal action at the World Trade Organization and under NAFTA. Rulings from the WTO have gone in favor of the United States recently, while NAFTA panels awarded Canada several victories.

Dear Reuters: In the first place, what the WTO thinks is not relevant since this is a NAFTA issue. And in the second place:

December 5, 2005 (12:40 p.m. EST)

WTO SUPPORTS CANADA’S POSITION ON SOFTWOOD LUMBER

Canada is pleased with today’s World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body decision, which supports Canada’s position that U.S. procedures used to establish countervailing duties (CVD) on Canadian softwood lumber imports are inconsistent with WTO rules.

I swear, some days it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.

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