Legislation aimed an increasing Canada's ability to use safeguard measures to limit import surges "recently cleared the House of Commons and the Senate, and received Royal Assent," said Daniel Kiselbach, a lawyer at Miller Thomson, in a blog post. "The provisions in the enactment lift a two-year moratorium on the imposition of safeguard measures on imports that have previously been subject to safeguard measures," he said. Part of a recent agreement between the U.S. and Canada that led to to lifting of tariffs on steel and aluminum was that the countries may impose tariffs in response to import surges of the metals (see 1905170031).

Honey importers are required to meet regulatory requirements, such as prohibitions on the "addition of foreign sugars to a food represented as honey," the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a July 9 notice. "CFIA has a variety of control and enforcement measures at its disposition, including product detention, disposal, order to remove from Canada, and prosecution," the agency said. "Enforcement actions in cases of non-compliance take into consideration the harm caused by the non-compliance, the compliance history of the regulated party, and whether there was intent to violate federal requirements."

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of July 10 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Brazil is considering lowering import duties on information technology goods, from 16 percent to 4 percent, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said in a July 2 report. The move would cover items such as cell phones and computers. The announcement came after Brazilian government officials suggested lowering tariffs would boost the competitiveness of Brazilian companies in the IT sector. Brazilian industry associations have had mixed responses to the potential change, the report said. The Brazilian Electrical and Electronic Industry Association said the move would hurt Brazilian businesses and lead to job losses, while the Association of Brazilian Information Technology Companies reportedly said the move would “boost overall competitiveness despite some adverse effects to certain sectors.” The Brazilian Semiconductor Industry Association said the move would force foreign companies out of the country, shrink the Brazilian industrial sector and lead to an increase in imports, which would hurt domestic semiconductor manufacturing, the report said.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of July 8 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The Canada Border Services Agency will be ending its use of the paper reporting process Export Declaration form (B13A) and require mandatory electronic reporting, the agency said in a July 8 customs notice. CBSA will stop accepting the from as of June 30, 2020, and will require the information through either the Canadian Export Reporting System or the G7 Export Reporting Electronic Data Interchange. The CERS will be available in March of 2020 and will replace the Canadian Automated Export Declaration (CAED) system. "CERS is a web-based, self-service portal enabling exporters to submit electronic declarations (including bulk upload and summary reporting), to the CBSA," the agency said.

Canadian trade officials are exploring ways to gain more foreign market access for their pork and beef exporters, specifically in China, according to a July 3 press release. Canada said it is working “to restore full market access for Canadian products to China” while also pursuing its trade diversification strategy. Canadian agriculture and trade officials met with representatives from the country’s pork and beef industry “to ensure that they will be able to sell their high quality products in as many global markets as possible,” the press release said. In a statement, Minister of International Trade Diversification Jim Carr said “re-opening market access” for Canadian meat exports to China “is a top priority.” The meeting came about a week after Canada announced it was injecting an additional $100 million into its “CanExport program,” which helps small and medium-sized businesses “access new export opportunities by diversifying into new markets,” according to a June 27 press release.

The Department of Finance Canada recently updated its list of goods covered in the U.S. Surtax Remission Order. "The latest changes to the Remission Order were made pursuant to the Order Amending the United States Surtax Remission Order, No. 2019-2 and entered into force on June 25, 2019," it said. The changes consist of:

Global Affairs Canada publicly released the initial environmental assessment of the Canada-Pacific Alliance Free Trade Agreement negotiations, it said in a notice in the Canada Gazette, Part I. Negotiations for the FTA with the Pacific Alliance, which includes Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, began in 2017, GAC said. While Canada already has trade deals with those countries, a Canada-PA FTA would help modernize those agreements and add some market access improvements, it said. "Given the high quality of existing FTAs between Canada and all of the PA countries, the economic impact expected from the negotiation of an FTA with the PA is modest," GAC said. "Therefore, the environmental impact is expected to be very limited." Comments on the assessment are due by Aug. 5. "Once negotiations conclude, and prior to ratification of the agreement, a final environmental assessment will be undertaken to assess the potential impacts of the negotiated outcome on the environment," GAC said.

The recently announced trade deal between the EU and the South American countries in the Mercosur trade bloc (see 1906280060) could take between one and three years to come into force, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said, according to a Reuters report. The timing of implementation will depend on the approval of the involved parliaments, he said. Mercosur is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Venezuela also is a member but has been suspended since December 2016.