What’s Behind the US–Canada Lumber Feud?

As the Trump administration looks to reset the global trade system, one of the longest-running international trade disputes in North America is returning to the forefront. The United States is reconsidering how it deals with the massive imports of Canadian softwood lumber. The two continental neighbors have feuded over the forest product since the 1980s. The root of the dispute can be traced in part to how land and the forests are owned. Canada’s vast forests are 90 percent publicly owned. Canada’s provincial governments, rather than the private market, decide which logging companies can access the resource and the price they pay for the privilege of felling trees....