United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer directed the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to continue to block future timber imports from Inversiones La Oroza SRL, a Peruvian exporter found to have illegally harvested timber in its supply chain.
All timber shipments from the exporter were denied entry to the U.S. beginning in October 2017 after a verification process discovered illegal timber in its shipments of wood products. The ban on Oroza was set to expire this month, but Lighthizer’s directive will continue to block shipments from the company.
“We remain committed to trade and investment that accelerates economic growth and simultaneously protects the environment,” Lighthizer said in a statement. “We will continue to monitor Peru’s compliance with its obligations under our trade agreement to ensure that illegally harvested timber cannot be exported to the United States.”
The United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement requires Peru to verify the legal harvest of timber shipments from the country.
