An international trade judge in New York City says the U.S. Commerce Department must return tariffs collected on Canadian spring wheat over a 2½-year period.

Those tariffs were implemented because of a trade complaint that the North Dakota Wheat Commission filed against Canada in 2002.

The International Trade Commission later concluded that U.S. farmers were not being harmed by Canadian wheat sales in their country, and a North American Free Trade Agreement panel confirmed that decision. The tariffs ended in February 2006.

Judge Richard Eaton with the U.S. Court of International Trade has now ruled that the U.S. has no right to keep any duties from the tariffs when they were in effect. The Wheat Board says the amount that will be returned is small - less than $100,000.

- Associated Press