Commerce Finalizes Canadian Softwood Lumber Countervailing Duties for 2024 Review

The U.S. Department of Commerce has finalized countervailing duty rates on certain softwood lumber products from Canada, concluding that producers and exporters received countervailable subsidies during the review period running from 1 January to 31 December 2024. The final results, applicable from 19 October 2026, set company-specific rates of 12.42% for Resolute FP Canada Inc. and its cross-owned affiliates, 15.31% for West Fraser Mills Ltd. and its affiliates, and 14.11% for companies not selected for individual examination. The determination is published as case C–122–858 in the Federal Register of 19 October 2026.

The review was conducted by the International Trade Administration’s Enforcement and Compliance unit under section 751(a)(1)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, and rests on the countervailing duty order issued on 3 January 2018 (83 FR 347). Commerce published preliminary results on 14 April 2026 (91 FR 19099) and then extended the deadline twice: by 53 days to 5 October 2026, and by a further seven days to 13 October 2026. The notice is signed by Scot Fullerton, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations.

Final subsidy rates

The ad valorem rates determined for the period 1 January through 31 December 2024 are:

• Resolute FP Canada Inc. and cross-owned affiliates: 12.42%.
• West Fraser Mills Ltd. and cross-owned affiliates: 15.31%.
• Non-selected companies: 14.11%, calculated as a weighted average of the rates of the reviewed companies using their sales data.

The Resolute group includes Forest Products Mauricie L.P., Fibrek General Partnership, Resolute Engineered Wood St. Prime Limited Partnership, Resolute Engineered Wood Larouche Inc., Profor Renaissance LP, 15477468 Canada Inc., 9340939 Canada Inc., Resolute Forest Products Inc., Bowater Canadian Holdings Incorporated, AbitibiBowater Canada Inc. and Bowater Canadian Limited. The West Fraser group includes Blue Ridge Lumber Inc., Manning Forest Products Ltd., Spray Lake Sawmills (1980) Ltd., Sundre Forest Products Inc., West Fraser Alberta Holdings, Ltd. and West Fraser Timber Co., Ltd. A further 215 non-selected companies receive the review-specific rate.

Cash deposits and assessment

U.S. Customs and Border Protection will collect cash deposits on shipments entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after the publication date, under the following rules:

• The deposit rate equals each company’s individual subsidy rate, unless that rate is below 0.50%, in which case it is zero.
• Where both producer and exporter have rates and they differ, the higher rate applies.
• Where only one of the two has a rate, that company’s rate applies.
• All other producers and exporters remain at 14.19%, the all-others rate from the original investigation.

Commerce will issue assessment instructions to Customs no earlier than 41 days after publication, and intends to disclose its calculations within five days of the notice.

Stumpage and programme disputes

The accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum addresses 78 comment topics raised in case and rebuttal briefs, most of them centred on how Commerce benchmarks government stumpage prices. The disputes cover Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Québec and Nova Scotia, including questions on whether provincial private timber markets are distorted, how to treat beetle-killed and fire-damaged timber, log export restraints, and the treatment of electricity purchase agreements and federal and provincial tax programmes.

Companion antidumping case

The same day’s Federal Register carries the parallel antidumping duty review, A–122–857, with final weighted-average dumping margins of 17.00% for Canfor, 4.71% for West Fraser, 13.13% for Resolute and 10.64% for non-selected companies, against an all-others rate of 6.04%. That notice also rescinds the review for 105 companies.

The final rates lock in the cost structure of a cross-border supply chain that feeds U.S. homebuilders and remanufacturers, and they extend a trade dispute that has run since the 2018 order. Because the deposit rates apply to entries from the publication date and the assessment covers all of 2024, importers face both prospective collection and retroactive liability, while the 14.11% rate for non-selected mills keeps pressure on the many smaller Canadian producers that dominate the appendix to the notice.

Source: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 200, 19 October 2026, Notices, p. 66092 (official reference: C–122–858).