Tax & Trade Blog

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CHINESE STEEL IMPORTS COSTLY

IMPORTING CHINESE STEEL HAS COSTLY CUSTOMS DIMENSIONS

While the recent focus in Canada has been on the tariff war between Canada and the US (for example, President Trump's tariffs on certain imported Canadian steel, and Prime Minister Carney's retaliatory surtaxes on same), what many have overlooked are similar Canadian surtaxes on Chinese steel and aluminum, which pre-date both.

As a number of Canadian importers have figured out, importing Chinese steel comes at a very significant cost on two different fronts.

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CUSTOMS RULES & CRIMINAL OFFENCES

IMPORTER BEWARE: CUSTOMS NON-COMPLIANCE CAN BE A CRIMINAL OFFENCE

Earlier this year, Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) intercepted a shipment declared to be electric fans from China.  When opened, CBSA found no fans, but almost 20,000 cartons of cigarettes, with a market value of about $2.2 million. (!)

Everyone knows that smuggling millions in cigarettes into Canada is a crime.  Like importing other sensitive goods (e.g., a prohibited weapon), many forms of importation can amount to criminal conduct, carrying with them potential offences under the Criminal Code.  Not all customs errors or violations amount to criminal conduct, however.  We explore the line between the two below.

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MANITOBA RST EXTENDED TO CLOUD SERVICES

PROVINCE CONTINUES TREND OF IMPOSING PST ON CLOUD SERVICES

We have previously written about Manitoba’s proposal to extend coverage of its Retail Sales Tax (“RST”) to cloud services here. With the recent enactment of Bill 46 on November 6, 2025, Software as a Service (“SaaS”), Platform as a Service (“PaaS”), and Infrastructure as a Service (“IaaS”), will be subject to Manitoba’s 7% RST starting January 1, 2026.

Manitoba now becomes the latest member of Western Canada to subject cloud services to provincial sales tax (“PST”), joining British Columbia (“BC”) and Saskatchewan (“SK”). 

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NEW FOOD LABELLING RULES INCOMING

AMENDMENTS TO FOOD AND DRUG REGULATIONS TAKE EFFECT IN THE NEW YEAR

After nearly four years, amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations (“FDR”) labelling regime, previously enacted in July of 2022, are set to take effect on January 1, 2026.

While the changes are laudable from a public health perspective, parties selling regulated food products (“Regulated Parties”) need to ready themselves for compliance with these changes, and in this report, we provide a brief overview of the key changes.

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CANADA-AUSTRALIA CUSTOMS PACT SIGNED

AUSTRALIA-CANADA'S LATEST PARTNER IN CUSTOMS MUTUAL ASSISTANCE AGREEMENT

Since 1979, Canada has been putting together a web of Customs Mutual Assistance Agreements (“CMAAs”) with a number of trading partners, including the US, Mexico, UK, EU, Israel, China, Korea, Chile, and Argentina.  Australia recently became the 15^th nation to agree to a CMAA with Canada, and we discuss below how these protocols allow Canada to tighten its enforcement on goods coming into Canada from foreign lands.