Madam Chair, to be very clear, there is a proposal that has been under consideration for a long time, which is that the government could buy back the entire $11 billion that is tied up in the United States. That is a massive sum. What we are presenting today is not that. At the end of each month, the government would buy back 50% of the countervailing and anti-dumping duties levied on every transaction with the United States.
Let me paint a clear picture. When $1,000 worth of wood is shipped to the United States, the forest producer pockets only $550, because $350 goes toward countervailing and anti-dumping duties, and another $100 goes toward customs duties and taxes. No economic sector can survive with ratios like that. Nobody can absorb a 45% liability.
If the government wants the forestry sector to survive intact, what it can do, while it waits to get through this crisis and for negotiate an agreement, is pay 50% of the countervailing and anti-dumping duties at the end of each month. This does not violate our trade agreements. Predatory hedge funds are already doing this. It would simply be a matter of the government giving the forestry sector a serious helping hand.