As you probably already know, the United States has imposed surcharges of 25% on certain steel products and 10% on certain aluminum products for national security reasons. Canada, as well as other countries, are exempt from these surtaxes until June 1.

By also targeting steel and aluminum and to avoid any diversion of steel or aluminum products from foreign producers to the United States through Canada, the Canadian government intends to harmonize its marking rules with those of the United States. This would prevent foreign producers from selling steel or aluminum products at unfairly lower prices than their home countries in the North American market.

The Canadian government also announced that it would give the CBSA more flexibility to “determine whether prices charged in the exporter’s domestic market are distorted.”

Marking is, as a general rule, applied on certain products by the exporter to clearly indicate the country of origin of those products. However, the importer must ensure that the marking is done correctly.

Marking in Canada is governed by:

• Determination of Country of Origin for the Purposes of Marking Goods (NAFTA Countries) Regulations; or
• Determination of Country of Origin for the Purpose of Marking Goods (Non-NAFTA Countries) Regulations.

The Canadian government intends to change certain marking rules to harmonize with those of the United States on certain products whose country of origin is part of NAFTA or not, in order to increase the number of products marked with the country of origin.

For more information, do not hesitate to contact our consultation service by email at consultations@w2c.ca, or by calling 514 268-2637, option 2.