U.S. Sets Final Antidumping and Subsidy Rates on Canadian Softwood Lumber

The United States has finalized updated antidumping and countervailing duty rates on Canadian softwood lumber, setting combined rates ranging from 20.02% for West Fraser to 31.11% for Canfor among the major producers identified in the latest review. Most companies covered by the review but not individually examined received a combined rate of 24.75%.

Published in the Federal Register on October 19, 2026, the final results followed an October 14 announcement by the U.S. Department of Commerce. They follow an examination of Canadian softwood lumber shipments that entered the United States during 2024. The figures also establish new cash deposit requirements for applicable future shipments, making the decision relevant beyond the period the government reviewed.

Antidumping duties and countervailing duties address separate findings. The first concerns exports sold below what Commerce considers normal value; the second concerns government subsidies found to benefit producers. Canada’s official summary of the seventh administrative reviews presents the rates together, but their application depends on the producer or exporter and the relevant U.S. orders. The combined percentages are not a single tariff imposed uniformly on all Canadian lumber.

Rates diverge across Canadian producers

Canfor’s final antidumping margin is 17.00%. Its 14.11% countervailing duty component is the rate for companies not individually examined in that portion of the review, producing a 31.11% combined figure. The distinction matters because Canfor was individually examined in the antidumping proceeding, but Resolute and West Fraser were the individually examined respondents in the countervailing duty proceeding.

For Resolute, Commerce assigned a 13.13% antidumping margin and a 12.42% countervailing duty rate, giving a 25.55% combined rate. West Fraser’s corresponding figures are 4.71% and 15.31%, or 20.02% together. That makes West Fraser’s combined rate more than 11 percentage points lower than Canfor’s, even though its countervailing duty component is higher.

Non-selected companies covered by the review were assigned a 10.64% antidumping rate and a 14.11% countervailing duty rate. Those add to 24.75%, the figure sometimes described as the ‘all others’ rate in summaries of this review. It is a review-specific rate, however, and should not be confused with the original all-others rates that continue to apply to firms without a more recent applicable review rate.

Commerce’s final antidumping determination identifies Canfor, Resolute and West Fraser as individually examined respondents and explains how the agency calculated the 10.64% rate for producers and exporters it did not examine separately. The countervailing duty determination likewise calculates a weighted-average rate for its non-selected companies, using information from the firms that received individual examinations.

The final rates also differ from the provisional figures disclosed earlier this year. In the June post-preliminary comparison published by Canada, West Fraser’s combined rate stood at 20.92%, versus the final 20.02%. Resolute’s rate edged up to 25.55% from 25.49%, while the non-selected combined rate moved down from 25.18% to 24.75%. Those earlier figures had not taken effect; the October results are the operative determination for the companies covered.

New deposits and the settlement of 2024 imports

An administrative review serves two purposes that are easy to conflate. First, it determines the duties ultimately assessed on covered shipments entered during the review period, which in this case ran from January 1 through December 31, 2024. Second, it resets the estimated duty deposits importers generally must provide on new entries of the relevant merchandise after the final results are published.

Those deposits are not necessarily the final bill. When lumber entered the United States in 2024, importers made estimated payments under rates then in force. The new review results establish a basis for settling the duties on those past entries. Depending on how the final assessment compares with the cash already deposited, an importer could owe more or qualify for a refund. Individual assessment calculations and any applicable legal suspension can affect the eventual outcome.

The notices give U.S. Customs and Border Protection the responsibility for collecting the duties. Commerce said it intends to issue assessment instructions no earlier than 41 days after publication, a timing rule that separates the immediate change to future cash deposits from the later settlement of entries under review. A 24.75% combined rate therefore should not be read as an immediate new invoice on every shipment of Canadian lumber made in 2024.

Coverage is especially important for companies outside the latest review. Under the antidumping notice, producers or exporters reviewed in an earlier period generally retain their most recent applicable company rate until a later review changes it. A company that has never received an applicable rate can remain subject to the original 6.04% antidumping all-others deposit rate. The separate countervailing duty notice gives a 14.19% original all-others deposit rate for producers and exporters otherwise not covered by a company-specific rate.

For importers, that means identifying both the producer and the exporter is as important as knowing the headline combined percentage. The countervailing duty notice also specifies how to handle shipments when the producer and exporter have different applicable rates. The final amount payable can depend on the company identities, review history and the exact products entered, rather than simply on the country of origin.

A long-running lumber dispute remains unresolved

The October decision is the latest stage of a trade dispute that has outlasted successive U.S. administrations. The 2006 U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement expired in October 2015, and the current antidumping and countervailing duty orders date to 2018. Canadian officials dispute the basis of U.S. lumber duties, while the U.S. system continues to review whether producers sold at unfair prices or benefited from countervailable subsidies under U.S. trade law.

The latest rates should also be kept separate from other U.S. restrictions on wood products. A 10% tariff on certain imported softwood lumber under Section 232 national-security measures took effect in October 2025, according to Global Affairs Canada. That measure is in addition to the antidumping and countervailing duties where the product is covered. The 20.02% to 31.11% combined figures in the new administrative review do not incorporate that separate tariff.

For Canadian mills and U.S. buyers, the duties can affect pricing negotiations and import costs, but the burden will vary with a company’s rate and the contracts under which lumber is sold. U.S. builders rely in part on Canadian lumber supply, while Canadian exporters have an interest in maintaining access to that market. The new percentages indicate the trade-remedy charges for covered firms; they do not by themselves establish how much of any added cost will be passed on to customers.

The administrative process is continuing. The eighth reviews, covering shipments made during 2025, are already underway, with Resolute and West Fraser selected for individual examination in both the antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings. Those later results can change the applicable company rates again, leaving the October figures as the latest stage in an annual review process rather than a final settlement of the broader lumber dispute.