The Commerce Department’s treatment of Canadian forest sustainability programs as countervailable subsidies is inconsistent with U.S. commitments under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and with the Biden administration’s climate policy, Canadian lumber groups told the department this week. Representatives of Québec and Ontario… said the department was countervailing “numerous and diverse provincial and federal government environmental programs” addressing several goals behind USMCA’s chapter on the environment, including “to promote energy conservation and sustainable forestry; implicitly to combat climate change; and to advance the economic and social welfare of Indigenous people.” …In its comment, the Canada group contended that Commerce was wrongfully “mistaking contracts, characterized by reciprocity and valuable consideration, for gifts.” The group also argued that the case demonstrated a rift between the administration’s climate policy and its trade policy… adding that the softwood lumber dispute “has become yet another instance of ‘rules for thee but not for me.” [to access the full story a World Trade Online subscription is required]