Lawyers: Proposed Commerce regulation could open new door for ag subsidy probes

The Commerce Department is proposing to revise its countervailing duty regulations so it can pursue sector-wide agricultural subsidy programs, a change that trade lawyers say could make it easier for U.S. growers to seek remedies for trade practices in Mexico and elsewhere. The proposed change, issued earlier this summer as part of a tranche of updates to Commerce’s trade remedy regulations, would eliminate a carveout for agricultural subsidies in the department’s specificity rule -- an exception that has been department...