Canada recommends lifting tariffs on imported rebar

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (ITT) is recommending the Canadian government remove tariffs on imports of multiple steel products including rebar, energy tubular products, and hot-rolled sheets.

The recommendation to remove the tariffs, made 3 April, includes pre-painted steel and wire rod products because they do not threaten the domestic industry. The ITT was asked by the department of finance to review steel import safeguards imposed in October by the government in an attempt to address an influx of diverted steel goods after the Trump Administration's imposition of protective Section 232 steel tariffs.

Imports of heavy plate and stainless steel wire were determined to be injuring to the Canadian steel industry and ITT recommended the imposition of tariff rate quotas (TRQ) for those products.

The ITT recommended that a tariff rate quota (TRQ) be imposed on all heavy plate and stainless steel wire imports except for those from the US, Chile, Mexico, Israel and other Canadian-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) beneficiary countries. Other excluded countries are South Korea, Panama, Peru, Colombia, Honduras, and other countries eligible for General Preferential Tariff (GPT) treatment.

US steel products are already subject to 25pc counter-tariff that began 1 July.

Heavy plate imports would have a three year quota system. In the first year the quota would total 100,000mt (110,000st) of untariffed imports, after which a tariff of 20pc would be imposed on further imports. The quota amount would increase by 10pc each year, while the tariff would decrease by 5 percentage points a year.

In 2018 heavy plate imports for countries that were to be subjected to the tariffs were 51,284mt, while total imports were 190,305mt.

Stainless steel wire imports would also have a three-year quota system. In the first year the quota would total 2,800mt (3,100st) of untariffed imports, after which a tariff of 25pc would be imposed on further imports. The quota amount would increase 10pc each year, while the tariff would decrease 10 percentage points a year.

The ITT said the investigation was "one of the most complex inquires ever conducted by the Tribunal," involving 119 participants and over 38,000 pages of documents.