Canadian International Trade Minister Jim Peterson urged the United States on Wednesday to respect rulings of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panel and end the duties imposed on imported Canadian softwood.

"It's high time that the United States accept that Canadian lumber is not subsidized," Peterson said in a news release.

"The US should live up to its NAFTA obligations rather than continue to cater to narrow protectionist interests in the US lumber industry. The US must stop imposing duties and refund the deposits collected to date," he said.

The NAFTA panel ordered US trade officials on Wednesday to review the calculations they used to conclude that Canadian lumber exports are subsidized.

Canadian lumber exporters have paid more than 5 billion Canadian dollars (about 4 billion US dollars) in duties since they were imposed in May 2002 after American lumber producers filed their fourth trade complaint in 20 years.

Ottawa was outraged when the US government signaled that it would not comply with a NAFTA extraordinary-challenge committee ruling in August that found no threat of injury to American producers from Canadian exports.

Source: Xinhua