Clearit.ca's Blog on Customs Brokerage and News Updates

Canada’s pulse producers are a little less stressed thanks to a temporary understanding between Canada and India over a dispute that had threatened to bring all shipments of pulses to India to a halt. India is the world’s largest market for pulses and it just so happens that Canada is one of its largest suppliers. The Indian government’s Farm Ministry has extended an exemption by three months. This exemption allows commodity imports , s...

If Canada were to enter into talks regarding a potential free trade agreement with China, it wants a “progressive” which would include chapters on human rights and labour standards says Canada’s new ambassador to China, John McCallum. Formal talks haven’t started between the two countries but Ottawa has been holding a round of exploratory consultations. “We have to do this with our eyes open,” mentioned McCallum in a recent intervi...

When Canada first entered talks with the European Union to build what would become the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the U.K. was still at the table, it was a pre-Brexit era. Times have changed and unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few months, you’ll know that Brexit is now a reality that has shaken up the EU. Canada, keeping CETA in mind, wants to avoid becoming an indirect casualty for the U.K’s depa...

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) was once hailed as a ground breaking trade agreement between 12 nations coming together with a vision of prosperity and a true global market. Sure, it had its faults and wasn’t perfect, but the TPP was the result of years of negotiations and seemed to be heading towards implementation by its various partners. Then came the 2017 Presidential elections and the somewhat surprising victory of a protectionist Repu...

It’s well known that President Trump isn’t a big fan of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Renegotiating the agreement – or breaking it – was a key element in Trump’s electoral campaign and now, with the power of the U.S. economy in his hands, the President is now in a position to dictate the agenda. The most recent development is that NAFTA negotiations probably won’t start until late 2017, might last a year and will include se...

'America First' is the ideology behind President Trump's approach to foreign affairs, especially when it comes to trade it seems, but there might be a small backlash to the protectionist ways of the Donald: a leading American voice for free trade has recently admitted that imposing import tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber would end up hurting U.S. workers in the end. Oups. The U.S. National Association of Home Builders is warning that duties...

Following a 2015 agreement between Canada and the United States, Prime Minister Trudeau’s government has introduced legislation that would give more leeway to U.S. border agents based in Canada to question and search people heading down south. With Donald Trump's move into the White House, many critics up in Canada, are now afraid that American authorities may abuse their powers granted on Canadian soil. Trudeau quick to reassure The Prime Mi...

It’s no news that the Trump administration isn’t crazy in love with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in fact it’s well-known that one of the first areas of interest for the administration is renegotiating the rules of origin found in the agreement. What are the rules of origin you ask? It’s essentially a technical rule found in the document that states that goods that originate from NAFTA countries are entitled to receive ...

Canada received a nice Valentine’s Day gift as Euro parliament members voted in favor of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) by a 408 to 254 vote. This now means that parts of the agreement that links Canada to the European Union, such as tariff reduction, will come into force eight years after the initial negotiations had started. The vote passed relatively well, considering the chaotic crowd of protesters gathered outside...

Gypsum boards – or drywall – coming in from the United States is now more expensive to buy in Canada. Sheets that once cost $8 are now being sold at approximately $13 a sheet. For contractors and weekend renovators, that amounts to having to pay double the cost for their drywall needs. The price surge is a result of the Canadian trade tribunal’s decision to back tariffs on U.S. drywall. The whole drywall saga started after a dumping comp...