Ottawa’s tariff-remission system cushions a significant share of U.S. countertariffs
Existing and prospective tariff relief is reducing countertariff exposure for Canadian importers, particularly buyers of U.S. steel and aluminum inputs.
Ottawa’s remission framework is already limiting the practical reach of Canada’s latest countertariffs on U.S. imports. The Globe and Mail’s review of published remission orders found that roughly one-third of the 629 U.S. products recently targeted for duties already have some form of tariff relief. For the approximately 300 steel and aluminum goods on the list, more than three-fifths are covered by existing orders. The Department of Finance is also receiving new relief requests tied to the Sept. 8 measures, whose tariff rates range from 15% to 50%. [1]
The program is intended to prevent retaliatory duties from imposing undue costs on Canadian firms that need imported inputs. Importers can seek remission when a product cannot realistically be bought from a Canadian or non-U.S. supplier, or where the tariff would cause severe harm to the Canadian economy. The Finance Department has received more than 1,800 remission requests related to U.S. surtaxes since March 2025, although an individual application may cover hundreds of products. [1]
The available data point to substantial use of the system across earlier tariff rounds. Between March 2025 and April 17, 2026, Canada assessed $9.7 billion in gross customs duties on U.S. imports, while remitting $5.5 billion to importers—about 57% of the assessed amount—according to the federal spring economic update cited in the report. The actual scope of relief may be broader than the published product-specific orders indicate because horizontal remissions can automatically apply to specified uses, including steel for auto and aerospace manufacturing, health-care products, and certain manufacturing, processing and food-packaging inputs. Details of those claims are not publicly reported. [1]
For manufacturers, the findings mean headline countertariff rates may overstate the effective cost on qualifying imported inputs. Magna International holds eight remission approvals spanning 17 steel tariff categories, including fasteners and sheet steel subject to increased 50% duties, while MHI Canada Aerospace has approvals covering 37 categories of products such as aluminum plate, fasteners and tools for goods imported for sale to Bombardier. Remissions can be permanent or time-limited, with the latter intended to give companies time to alter supply arrangements. Processing can nevertheless take three to eight months, according to a trade lawyer cited by the report. [1]
The relief system also affects how countertariffs may feed through to prices and competitiveness. A Bank of Canada study of earlier retaliatory measures found targeted-item prices increased by about 6%, with around one-quarter of a 25% tariff passed on to consumers, while a cited Oxford Economics estimate put the latest countertariffs’ potential contribution to consumer-price inflation at 0.12 percentage points before remissions. Those estimates are assessments rather than realized outcomes for the September measures, but they underscore why exemptions for difficult-to-replace inputs matter to firms’ margins and downstream prices. [1]
This is a meaningful industry-impact development because the reported remission coverage suggests that a material portion of Canada’s countertariffs will not be paid by qualifying importers, especially in steel and aluminum supply chains and manufacturers using those inputs. The significance is moderate rather than high because the report cannot quantify the import value covered by existing orders, horizontal claims are not disclosed, and relief applications may take months to process. [1]