Trade News

The following is excerpted from an 8 November 2011 news release by Foreign Affairs and International TRade Canada. The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, today announced the start of the first round of negotiations to modernize the Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement taking place in Ottawa this week. This negotiating round will wrap up on November 10, 2011. This release is available in its entirety at:

The following is a CBSA message (EDI11-065) Please note, members were advised of Tariff Notice TN-56 on 4 November 2011.

Serial No. 809 The purpose of this Notice is to advise importers that the barley products tariff rate quota (TRQ) will be filled on November 30, 2011. Consequently, November 30, 2011 (at 11:59 pm) will be the cut-off date for accounting for imports of all barley products classified under a "within access commitment" tariff item number. This Notice is available in its entirety on the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada website at:

Brokers are advised that the correction period for OCTOBER 2011 Softwood Lumber permits ends November 10 2011, at 17:00 ET. We remind you of the importance of submitting correct information on permits as this is imperative to the operation of the Softwood Lumber Agreement. Please submit permit corrections for the month of OCTOBER before the end of the correction period, as is the case for every allocation month of the year. __________________________________________________

The following is excerpted from a 7 November 2011 news release by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

Subsidy case number: 4218-23 Subsidy file number: CV/122 Subsidy case number:4218-27 Subsidy file number: CV/125 The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has today concluded a re-investigation to update the amounts of subsidy, pursuant to the Special Import Measures Act (SIMA), in respect of certain seamless steel casing and certain oil country tubular goods originating in or exported from the People's Republic of China (China). To view the entire notice, please visit the CBSA website at:

The Canada Revenue Agency has released the following publication: NEWS82, Excise and GST/HST News - No. 82 (Fall 2011). It is available on the CRA website at: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gr/news82/README.html __________________________________________________

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Import Control Division will be closed for the Remembrance Day holiday on Friday November 11 from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM (ET). If you require assistance please contact the: National Import Service Centre (NISC) - Toronto: 1-800-835-4486, 905-795-7834 - FAX : 905-795-9658 National Import Service Centre Satellite Office (NSO) - Montreal: 1-877-493-0468, 514-493-2468 - FAX : 514-493-4103

The following message is from CBSA (EDI11-064). The following is a message to all Electronic Commerce clients. During the Remembrance Day holiday, Friday, November 11, 2011, between 08:00 and 16:00 (Eastern Time), officers will be available at 1-888-957-7224 to deal with production issues only.

The following is excerpted from the 31 October 2011 edition of The Globe and Mail. Drive north toward the Canadian border from just about any point in the United States, and it can feel like you’re bound for the wild frontier. The roads get lonelier, the population sparser and the trees smaller. What Americans think of as the fringe of their country is where Canada’s vibrant hub begins. This yawning perception gap explains a lot about how the two countries look at the border... This commentary is available in its entirety at:

The following is excerpted from the 7 November 2011 edition of The Globe and Mail. Embracing the old adage that all politics is local, Barack Obama is putting the people of Nebraska front and centre in the bitter Keystone XL pipeline debate. “Folks in Nebraska, like all across the country, aren’t going to say to themselves, ‘We’ll take a few thousand jobs if it means our kids are potentially drinking water that would damage their health,’” the U.S. President said last week...

The following is from the 7 November 2011 edition of the Journal of Commerce. A popular Customs chief’s tenure winds down with confirmation less likely; trade interests say that’s wrong Alan D. Bersin’s past year must seem like a blur: The commissioner of Customs and Border Protection is in a hurry to make his mark, and time is running out. His tenure, a popular one among trade interests, will expire on Dec. 31 unless he gets Senate confirmation, and that’s looking less likely by the day.

The following is excerpted from the 5 November 2011 edition of the Montreal Gazette. Ouch. Or as chief economist Avery Shenfeld at CIBC World Markets put it: "Suddenly the jobs market doesn't look quite so rosy in Canada." It sure doesn't. After a year in which employment growth remained inexplicably strong through thick and thin, it came thumping back to earth in October with the loss of 54,000 jobs. That's the biggest monthly decline since early 2009, when we were in the middle of a recession. This article is available in its entirety at:

The following is excerpted from a 4 November 2011 news release by CBP. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is providing its preliminary calculations of the impact of the Claims Resolution Act on the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act distributions for fiscal year 2011. This release is available in its entirety at: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/highlights/11042011_4.xml __________________________________________________

The following is excerpted from the 4 November 2011 edition of Reuters Canada. Unexpected job losses pushed Canada's unemployment rate higher in October as the European debt crisis and U.S. weakness buffeted the exporting nation's economy and weakened confidence. This article is available in its entirety at: http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE7A326X20111104 __________________________________________________

The following is excerpted from a 5 November 2011 news release by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, today underscored the importance of concluding a trade agreement with India during a tour of McCain Foods International’s manufacturing facility in Mehsana, India, stating it is a top priority in the Harper government’s low-tax, job-creating, pro-trade plan. This release is available in its entirety at:

The following is excerpted from a 6 November 2011 news release by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. As world leaders were meeting in France for the G-20 Summit, the Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, was leading a trade mission to India and the Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, was promoting Canada’s plentiful and world-class natural resources in China and Japan. This release is available in its entirety at:

Members may be interested in the following, published on 05 November 2011 in Part I of the Canada Gazette. 1. Canadian International Trade Tribunal, Under the Customs Act, Contech Holdings Canada Inc. v. President of the Canada Border Services Agency, Appeal Nos.: AP-2010-033 and AP-2010-042. Goods in Issue: Certain greenhouse carts and parts thereof

The following meat hygiene directives are now available in HTML and PDF versions at: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/meavia/man/direct/directe.shtml MHD 2011-46 Chapter 11 - Section 11.7.3 - Taiwan The PDF version of directives should be used for maintaining print copies of the meat hygiene manual of procedures. __________________________________________________

The following is excerpted from the 4 November 2011 edition of Canadian Transportation & Logistics. Trade using surface transportation between Canada, the US, and Mexico was 18.3% higher in August than in August 2010, totalling $80.4 billion, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the US Department of Transportation. This was the second time on record that US-NAFTA trade by land modes exceeded $80 billion in one month - the first time was in March... The article is available in its entirety at: