US to comply with NAFTA lumber ruling despite reservations News
US to comply with NAFTA lumber ruling despite reservations

[JURIST] The US Commerce Department [official website] said on Tuesday that it will comply with a NAFTA ruling to reduce duties it placed on softwood lumber [CBC News backgrounder] from Canada although emphasizing its disagreement with the ruling. According to the department, duties on lumber will be reduced from 16 percent to slightly below 1 percent under the ruling, although the department said the change would have no practical effect. The duties have been a hotly contested issue between the US and Canadian lumber industries, with a US industry group recently challenging the NAFTA process [JURIST report]. The US has argued that Canada subsidizes its lumber industry because most timber is harvested from government lands, while US timber largely comes from private land. The WTO has previously ruled in favor of Canada [JURIST report] on the issue as well. The Department has a news release on its actions. CBC News has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Ku Klux Klan founded

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

Hamid Karzai born

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.