Today, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada is modifying tariff rate quotas (TRQs) for steel products as a result of the US Section 232 tariffs on steel and to prevent the Canadian market from being flooded with cheaper foreign steel no longer destined for the United States. This may be of interest to PMMI members manufacturing in Canada and sourcing non-Canadian steel.
- Imports of steel from countries that do not have a free trade agreement (FTA) with Canada:
- Effective 1 August, the TRQ level for imported steel has been reduced to 50% of the volume of 2024 imports.
- Canada had previously reported TRQs for non-FTA partners effective 27 June along with volumes (at 100% of 2024 volumes), impacted tariff codes and countries of origin excluded from the TRQs. Our interpretation is the volume is now reduced to 1.3 M tonnes from 2.6 M tonnes.
- In-quota rate remains at duty-free
- Over-quota rate remains at 50%
- Imports of steel from FTA partners: Effective August 1, 2025, TRQs will also be extended to countries that have an FTA in force with Canada except for imports from United States and Mexico.
- The TRQ level is reported to be the volumes of 2024 imports. It is unclear what the 2024 import volumes were from FTA partners, so do not have visibility on TRQ volume for FTA partners at this time.
- In-quota rate will be duty-free
- Over-quota rate will be 50%
- FTA partners Colombia, Costa Rica, EU, Honduras, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Panama, Peru, UK, Ukraine, and CPTPP members which include: Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
- Melt and pour tariffs: Finally, a 25% tariff will be applied on imports that contain steel melted and poured in China. This applies to imports from all countries other than the United States and is expected to be implemented before the end of the month. Product scope aligns with the existing China Surtax Order on steel and the list of impacted steel products can be found here.
