Ottawa, April 8:

Canada won a small victory in its longstanding lumber trade dispute with its neighbour yesterday after a US court ruled the US cannot disperse duties to its timber companies under the Byrd amendment.

The US Court of International Trade decision is the latest result in a series of battles over US duties imposed on Canadian softwood imports that have been fought at the World Trade Organization and before NAFTA panels. A litany of judgments have favored both sides on separate occasions. “This takes away a significant incentive that the US industry has had in terms of carrying on with further litigation because they won’t be able to get their hands on the duties in the way that they had hoped,” Canada’s trade minister David Emerson said, “This is a positive win but I wouldn’t call it a home run. There is still a legal distance to go to have those duties returned.”

The decision comes about a week after Canadian premier Stephen Harper and US president George W Bush agreed to appoint special envoys to look into ways to kick start talks to end the trade row.

Canada broke off talks last year to protest a US decision to continue to collect duties on Canadian softwood imports despite a NAFTA ruling.