MADISON, ME – In advance of the International Trade Administration’s final determination later this month regarding potentially illegal trade subsidies provided to Canadian exporters of supercalendered paper, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) today visited Catalyst’s Rumford Mill and UPM’s Madison Paper to express his support for the workforce and pledge to do all he can to fight for and protect Maine jobs affected by this ongoing investigation.

           “Maine mills and their hardworking employees should not have to fight an uphill battle against illegal foreign trade practices,” Senator King said. “It’s time that the Commerce Department ensure that Maine’s mills are treated fairly and that they have the chance to compete on a level playing field. I will continue to do all that I can to fight for and protect these important jobs in Rumford, Madison, and all across Maine.”

At both Rumford and Madison, Senator King toured the mills, met with employees, and spoke with management and local officials. Senator King’s visit comes during an ongoing Department of Commerce investigation into unfair Canadian provincial trade practices in the supercalendered paper market, and ahead of a final determination from the ITA regarding subsidies.

At the urging of Senator King, Senator Susan Collins, and Congressman Bruce Poliquin, the Department of Commerce earlier this year announced it would investigate extensive Canadian subsidies that are unfairly harming U.S. producers of supercalendered paper, including Madison Paper Industries (MPI) located in Madison, ME.

However, counter to calls from Senators King and Collins and Congressman Poliquin to investigate all Canadian paper producers, the Commerce Department decided to pursue an investigation of only Port Hawkesbury Paper in Nova Scotia and Resolute Forest Products in Quebec, and not the other two producers of supercalendared paper in Canada: Catalyst Paper in British Columbia, which recently acquired a paper mill in Rumford, Maine, that employs 700 workers, and Irving Paper Ltd  in New Brunswick, which directly employs over 450 people in Maine.

In a preliminary determination reached earlier this year, the ITA announced that it had found that the Government of Nova Scotia had provided extensive and unfair subsidies to the Port Hawkesbury Paper mill and, as a result, would begin charging a countervailing duty rate on imports on Canadian supercalendered paper. However, because they were not individually investigated by the Commerce Department, Catalyst and Irving were assigned an arbitrary and unfair duty rate that is largely based upon the massive Port Hawkesbury subsidies rather than a careful assessment of the actual subsidies, if any, they received.

Today, Senator King pledged to continue to fight on behalf of Madison Paper, which is unduly suffering from the unfair subsidies provided to Port Hawkesbury through the Nova Scotia provincial government, and to continue to press the Commerce Department to conduct a full and fact-based investigation to ensure that any final duties assigned are appropriate and just.

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