NAFTA affirms lumber duties
A special North American trade panel ruled Friday that the United States must continue to apply reduced punitive duties to Canadian lumber imports in a decades-long dispute that has fueled talk of a trade war between the world’s largest trading partners.
The decision by the NAFTA dispute panel, established under the North American Free Trade Agreement, follows a ruling last month by the World Trade Organization that the United States had complied with its international obligations in imposing punitive antidumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber. The United States first imposed antidumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber in May 2002, when they totaled more than 27 percent. The reductions since then have cut duties in both categories roughly in half.
Harrison, Idaho
Dock builder eyes Bonner County
Harrison Dock Builders said it will move a manufacturing operation from Florence, Ore., to Priest River, Idaho.
The Harrison, Idaho-based company will hire 15 to 20 people for the new Bonner County operations, said Keith Shannon, president of Harrison Dock Builders.
The company will have an office in Priest River and a waterfront manufacturing operation on Lake Pend Oreille, both of which should open in May, Shannon said.
Besides its corporate headquarters in Harrison, the company has a division in Sagle, Idaho, and a warehouse in Coeur d’Alene. Harrison Dock Builders currently employs about 40 people in those locations, Shannon said.
Paris
French law aimed at iPod system
Apple Computer Inc. faces a serious challenge in France as lawmakers move to sever the umbilical cord between its iPod music player and iTunes online store — threatening its lucrative hold on both markets.
Amendments to an online copyright bill, adopted early Friday, would give rivals access to the hitherto exclusive file formats at the heart of Apple’s music business model as well as Sony Corp.’s Walkman players and Connect store.
Thanks to the massive success of the iPod models — in the United States, the players accounted for 72 percent of the portable media player market in 2005, according to NPD Group — iTunes has become the global leader in online music sales. The iPod is currently designed not to play music from rival services.