Ottawa takes promised steps to prevent transshipments of aluminum, steel

Ottawa is taking promised steps to prevent aluminum and steel from entering Canada as a way to circumvent trade measures that led to the U.S. lifting tariffs earlier this year.

Starting Sept. 1, certain aluminum products will be added to the Import Control List (ICL) under the Export and Import Permits Act.

Importers will be required to report details of the imported products to the Canada Border Services Agency and be subject to penalties for inaccurate or fraudulent filings.

Ottawa is also amending anti-dumping regulations to ensure the appropriate duties can be applied to goods dumped into Canada and give the CBSA additional flexibility to compare the price of imports with prices charged by the exporter to a different country.

Global Affairs Canada will monitor the steel sector by being able to ask certain importers to submit detailed reports.

The changes come ahead of a meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in France. Canada and the United States agreed in May on measures to prevent transshipments and monitor aluminum and steel trade between the two countries.

“These additions to the ICL will allow the government to track and monitor imports of aluminium and help ensure that Canada does not become an entry point for transshipment or circumvention of Canadian or U.S. trade measures,” said Jean Simard, CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada, in a statement.

The Canadian Steel Producers Association also welcomed the government’s response to an industry-government working group’s recommendations to strengthen the country’s trade remedy system and import monitoring regime.

“These improvements are necessary to respond to injurious dumped and subsidized steel imports,” said association president Catherine Cobden.