UPDATE 1-White House seeks new climate measures, trade progress in Trudeau visit

(Adds details about trade, background, quotes)
By Roberta Rampton and Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are set to discuss new
ideas for curbing climate change and expanding trade during an
Oval Office meeting this week, White House officials said during
a preview on Tuesday.
Trudeau, who pledged to repair frayed ties with the United
States when he took office in November, will meet with Obama on
Thursday ahead of a star-studded state dinner.
The White House, which sees a natural partner in Trudeau,
hopes the two countries can commit to cut methane emissions from
the energy sector by 40 percent to 45 percent from 2012 levels
by 2025, and endorse an initiative to stop routine flaring from
oil and gas fields, said Todd Stern, the U.S. climate envoy.
"The commitment of both leaders to addressing this global
challenge is clear and I expect under their leadership North
America will make significant progress this year," Stern told
reporters.
Stern said the two countries also are looking at ways to
make carbon emissions from the aviation sector "neutral,"
starting in 2020 through the Montreal-based International Civil
Aviation Organization.
The United States also hopes to accelerate the timetable to
phase out HFCs, industrial gases that have far more potential to
trap the earth's heat than carbon dioxide, through an amendment
to the Montreal Protocol, Stern said.
On trade, a hot-button issue for both Democrats and
Republicans in the race to succeed Obama in the Nov. 8
presidential election, the leaders are likely to discuss two
longstanding irritants, softwood lumber and meat labeling.
A deal governing Canadian softwood lumber exports expired
last year, and the two nations are talking about a new
arrangement, said Mark Feierstein, the White House National
Security Council's senior director for the Western hemisphere.
"We're open to exploring all options with Canada at this
point," Feierstein said, declining to put timelines on when a
deal may be reached.
The White House also hopes Canada will formally end its
World Trade Organization case against a U.S. labeling law that
the WTO ruled hurt Canadian beef and pork exports, he said.
The United States repealed the law in December.