The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, April 10, edition that the U.S. Department of Commerce plans to increase duty rates on Canadian softwood lumber producers to 34.45 per cent, more than double the current rates. The Globe's Brent Jang writes that this move, effective by September, precedes a new investigation that could further impact Canada in the continuing trade dispute. President Donald Trump's executive order that threatened lumber tariffs cited Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, allowing him to connect the softwood file with national security. Last week, B.C. Premier David Eby described it as "a ludicrous national-security investigation into our timber practices here." Mr. Trump also has signed a separate executive order designed to spur lumber production within the United States. On Friday, the Commerce Department announced its preliminary decision to raise countervailing duty rates on Canadian softwood producers. Most forests in Canada are on Crown land, where buyers pay "stumpage fees" to provincial governments for the right to log. The U.S. has alleged that the fees are too low, and that they amount to subsidies. The Americans have levied countervailing duties in retaliation.