A US Court of International Trade judge temporarily blocked the US Dept of Commerce from revoking a countervailing duty on five Canadian lumber companies, in response to a suit by a group of American lumber companies that say the department unfairly let those companies off the hook. Judge Thomas J. Aquilino Jr. issued a restraining order shortly after American companies… filed a complaint. The companies say the Commerce Department exceeded its authority when it carried out an expedited review and lifted countervailing duties on…  Canada’s Les Produits Forestiers D&G Ltee, Marcel Lauzon Inc., North American Forest Products Ltd. and others. …“Section 103 does not provide the discretion for an agency to directly undertake perceived international treaty obligations, such as the WTO’s Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, without prior authorization from Congress,” the American companies said in the complaint. “As such, Commerce’s findings in the final results are in excess of its statutory authority.” [to access the full story requires a Law 360 subscription]