Tax & Trade Blog

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ELBOWS UP? DUMB STRATEGY

CANADA'S ELBOWS UP STRATEGY WAS DOOMED TO FAIL, AND IT JUST DID

As we first alluded to January 20, 2025, Canada's "retaliatory tariff" – or in the Prime Minister's view, our "elbows up" – strategy was a bad idea and of "questionable economic policy".  We also described it as a fight that Canada could not win for Bloomberg Daily Tax.

Perhaps expectedly, Prime Minister Carney has today backed off the heart and sole of that retaliatory response, creating an exception for US origin goods.

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CBSA INVESTIGATING OCTG IMPORTS - AGAIN!

OCTG FROM MEXICO, THE PHILIPPINES, TURKEY, SOUTH KOREA & USA

On August 11, 2025, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) initiated an Investigation under the Special Import Measures Act (“SIMA”) in respect of the alleged dumping of Oil Country Tubular Goods (“OCTG”) originating in or exported from the United Mexican States, Republic of the Philippines, and originating in:

• the Republic of Türkiye (by or on behalf of Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.);
• the Republic of Korea (by or on behalf of Hyundai Steel Company); and
• the United States of America (by or on behalf of Tenaris S.A.).

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EXPIRY REVIEW: STEEL PLATE FROM UKRAINE

CITT REVIEWING ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES

On August 5, 2025, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (“CITT”) issued a notice that it was beginning an expiry review in respect of hot-rolled carbon steel plate and high-strength low-alloy steel plate originating in or exported from Ukraine (the “Subject Goods”).  On August 6, 2025, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) similarly gave notice of the initiation of their parallel expiry review investigation.

More details on the technical definition of the Subject Goods can be found here.

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CBSA COMPLIANCE VERIFICATION PRIORITIES

FOCUS ON U.S. & CHINA SURTAX ORDERS

The Canadian Border Services Agency (the “CBSA”) has released the July 2025 update to its compliance and verification priorities.  This update is part of the CBSA’s semi-annual process of resetting its verification priorities, which occurs in January and July of each year.

In this July 2025 update, the CBSA has placed a significant focus on the U.S surtaxes, alongside other ongoing compliance areas from previous rounds.  We provide a detailed breakdown of these priorities below.

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TARIFF REMISSION UPDATE

CANADA AMENDS UNITED STATES SURTAX REMISSION ORDER

With Canadian businesses still facing down the debilitating financial effects of the Canada-United States (US) trade war, the Government of Canada is attempting to provide businesses with further relief from its retaliatory tariffs.

On July 16, 2025, Canada enacted an Order in Council amending the United States Surtax Remission Order (2025) (the “Remission Order”), extending remission relief to a number of new products (adding further Schedules 2 to 5) and we report on the further opportunities for remission relief here.