Canada is launching a challenge under the North American Free Trade Agreement against recently announced U.S. duties against Canadian softwood lumber imports.

The Canadian government filed a formal notice on Tuesday of intent to request the establishment of a binational panel under NAFTA to review the U.S. Department of Commerce's recent final determination on countervailing duties on the lumber.

The Commerce Department said on Nov. 2 that it had determined that Canada was providing unfair subsidies to its producers of softwood lumber at rates from 3.34 per cent to 18.19 per cent. It said it would instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of softwood lumber from Canada based on the final rates. 

This was excerpted from the 14 November 2017 edition of CBC News.