Canada appeals WTO ruling on U.S. lumber duties: official

[June 05, 2019]  GENEVA (Reuters) - Canada has appealed against a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel ruling in a case it lost in April that would allow the United States to use "zeroing" to calculate anti-dumping tariffs on lumber, a WTO official said on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland had already announced that Ottawa would appeal, saying U.S. duties on Canadian softwood lumber are "unfair and unwarranted".

The WTO ruling approved a long-outlawed U.S. trade policy when a panel said Washington's use of "zeroing" to calculate anti-dumping tariffs was permissible in the lumber case brought in 2017.

Zeroing calculates tariffs based on whether the domestic price of a product exceeds its U.S. import price after it is adjusted for transportation and handling costs.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Jason Neely)

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