Technology is king. More and more aspects of our lives are going digital and online. Not surprisingly, the shipping industry is being swept up in the tech wave, too. The passage of goods through the border is increasingly done in real time, online and by computers at customs offices. Transport trucks are GPS enabled. Packages are live tracked every step of their journey.
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Blog Posts
Every industry has its jargon and insider-speak. Shipping and logistics is no different. Thankfully, when you get bogged down in letters that just don’t add up, help is at hand – your friendly Cole customs broker will gladly field your questions; CBSA’s “frequently used” acronym list with definitions is online, and our own blog pages have some answers, too.
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Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the U.S. president to take all appropriate action, including retaliation, to obtain the removal of any act, policy or practice of a foreign government that violates an international trade agreement or is unjustified, unreasonable or discriminatory and that burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.
This June, President Trump imposed Section 301 tariffs on a wide range of goods from China in response to U.S. concerns regarding forced technology transfer, hacking, and intellectual property theft. The tariffs took aim at several thousand products — mostly industrial goods and components like fiberboard, woven glass fiber, and electrical conduit tubing.
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Technology is advancing so fast, it’s hard to keep up. From phones that order and pay for your coffee, to your teenager’s tiny wrist-based computer, tech is an undeniably ubiquitous part of our lives – whether we like it or not.
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As savvy importers – and current-affairs watchers – know, taxes, tariffs and retaliatory actions are adding significant costs to the import of many products. Not long ago, we ran a blog on steel and aluminum tariffs, so head there for a bit of history.
Given the significant cost new U.S. tariffs are adding to steel products, folks in the steel industry are concerned that steel goods previously bound for the U.S. could be diverted to other markets – including Canada – where import costs are lower. Because of this, the Canadian government has taken the unusual step of applying a provisional safeguard surtax to most steel products imported into Canada – subject to the provisions outlined below.
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The Safe Food for Canadians Act and Regulations (SFCR) will come into effect on January 15th, 2019. We reviewed some of the details of SFCR in a previous blog post, but you may still have questions, like…
“Will the new regulations come into effect all at once?”
“Will these changes affect my small business?”
“Do the regulations also apply to exporters?”
“What are the labeling requirements under the new regulations?”
If so, read on.
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Anyone that exports goods from the U.S. with a commercial value over $2,500 is required to file export information prior to the goods leaving the U.S. via the Automated Export System (AES). What's involved? Read on to get the facts on this important (and relatively new) requirement.
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The new Safe Food for Canadians Act and Regulations (SFCR) will come into effect in just a couple months. Anyone importing, exporting or handling food should understand how they will affect their business and take steps now to be prepared for the January 15th implementation date.
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After more than a year of intense meetings and negotiations, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico have tentatively settled on a trade deal to replace NAFTA. In the final round of meetings that concluded at the end of September, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was unveiled, sporting changes in the following key areas.
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As many Canadian importers know, as of July 1, Canada is applying a surtax to many goods of U.S. origin that were previously duty-free. This was done as a countermeasure to the U.S. adding tariffs to many Canadian products earlier this year.
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