U.S. Upset by Canadian Corn Dumping Probe
             WASHINGTON (Reuters) - United States officials said on Wednesday they were disappointed with a preliminary Canadian ruling that could lead to duties on imports of U.S. corn into western Canada.
             ``The Canadian government's finding that U.S. corn shipments have depressed Canadian corn prices is completely unsupported by the facts,'' U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said in a statement.
             The Canadian International Trade Tribunal, acting on a complaint by farmers in Manitoba, issued a preliminary ruling on Tuesday that corn shipments from the United States are harming western Canadian corn producers.
             The United States will ask the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency to delay the next phase of the investigation, which would determine whether Canada will impose anti-dumping or countervailing duties on the imports.
             A 45-day delay from Nov. 7 would allow full consideration of the information already provided by U.S. industry and state and federal officials, Barshefsky said.
             Canadian officials said no decision had been made on the delay request, and that the investigations were being done under the terms of World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
             ``The U.S. does these sort of investigations all the time, the same kind of thing,'' said Steve Verheul, director of Agriculture Canada's trade policy divison.
             Verheul stressed that Canada is only looking at potential dumping of corn into its western provinces.
             The flare-up comes as Canada is hosting fellow members of the Cairns Group of agriculture-exporting countries, which contends the United States has been unfairly subsidizing its exports of
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