The Canadian government has requested consultations with the United States at the World Trade Organization in an effort to counter the U.S. Commerce Department’s recent implementation of antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of Canadian softwood lumber. Global Affairs Canada called the U.S. imposition of these duties, which were announced early this month, “unfair, unwarranted and deeply troubling.” The Canadian ministry emphasized in a press statement on Tuesday that it will “forcefully defend Canada’s softwood lumber industry. We recently challenged the countervailing duties under Chapter 19 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and today we are beginning litigation via the WTO.‎” …The decades-old U.S.-Canada lumber trade spat has also been a flash point during the current North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation rounds.