The U.S. and Canada recently agreed to end their dispute over the trade of lumber. So it’s perfect timing for a Washington company to file a new lawsuit on the issue.

Merrill & Ring Forestry of Port Angeles filed a complaint under NAFTA over Canada’s refusal to let it export logs from the 8,000 acres on Vancouver Island that it has owned for a century. The suit claims damages of at least US$25 million at the hands of the Canadian government, which owns most of the country’s forests and heavily regulates privately owned land.

The larger battle over lumber has cost both countries financially and in job terms. For example, Weyerhaueser said it paid $366 million in duties to export lumber from its land in Canada to the U.S. between March 2002 and Dec. 2005. That total includes $21 million in legal and other related expenses, according a company report. The duties were a factor in the company’s 2005 decision to sell the British Columbia coastal lumber business, which was hard hit by the duties and has seen a steady dwindling of jobs as a result.