U.S. Will Continue to Levy Tariffs on Canada Shingles

MONTREAL —  The Reagan Administration said Tuesday that it will continue the five-year tariffs it imposed in mid-1986 on Canadian redwood shakes and shingles but will lower them more rapidly than had been scheduled previously.

The tariffs, imposed after complaints by American lumber mills that Canada was providing an unfair advantage to its own shake and shingle producers by selling logs at a discount, sparked a major political flap between the two countries.

Canada retaliated briefly, imposing stiff tariffs on U.S.-produced semiconductors, books and Christmas trees but lifting them a few months later after protests by Canadian consumers.

U.S. officials said when they imposed the tariffs that they would review the tariff program after 2 1/2 years and decide then whether to continue the extra duties for the full five years. In return for the protection from imports, U.S. lumber mills were expected to modernize and seek alternative materials with which to compete.

The tariff, which was set at 35% in June, 1986, originally had been scheduled to drop to 20% on Wednesday for 30 more months and then fall to 8% for the final six months of the five-year period.

But the Administration’s order Tuesday will change that so the tariff will now fall to 20% for a year, then slip to 10% for a year and finally drop to 5% during the program’s last six months. U.S. officials said the American industry has been meeting its part of the bargain.

Separately, the trade ministers’ meeting continued Tuesday without much progress, with negotiating groups on agriculture, services and intellectual property issues breaking into smaller panels in an effort to draft compromise language.