Canada Announces Measures to Stop Transshipment of Dumped Metals

Canada's government announced changes to its customs and antidumping duty regulations to bolster customs enforcement on dumped steel and aluminum, calling the diversion of cheap steel and aluminum "a threat to Canadian jobs and the North American market." The government said the changes will be subject to a 15-day consultation in the Canadian version of the Federal Register.

It said on March 27 that it will start new circumvention investigations to make sure metal subject to antidumping duties isn't slightly modified or assembled in other countries to avoid the duties. The Canada Border Services Agency will gain flexibility in determining whether the exporter country's price of the metal is distorted or reliable, since antidumping duty rates are generally based on a comparison of domestic prices and prices in the exporter's country. Unions will gain standing at the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, to testify on whether imports are hurting domestic producers. In addition, Canada pledges to coordinate more closely with CBP and to meet more often with the U.S. and Mexico on transshipment, diversion and global overproduction.

"Canada already has one of the toughest enforcement regimes in the world to combat this practice," the announcement said. "We currently have 71 trade remedy measures in force on steel and aluminum imports alone." ​ The steel remedies apply to 23 countries. "Canada will not be used as a backdoor into other North American markets," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in the release.