The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has launched an anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duty probe into renewable diesel imports from the USA.
The investigation was launched following a complaint filed with the CBSA by Canadian biofuels producer Tidewater Renewables (Tidewater) at the end of last year, the agency said on 6 March.
In its complaint, Tidewater alleged that due to an increase in dumped and subsidised imports from the USA, they had suffered material injury in the form of lost market share, lost sales, price undercutting, price depression, reduced profitability, and negative impact on cash flow, return on investment and ability to raise capital.
The CBSA said it would investigate if the imports were being sold in Canada at unfair prices and/or are being subsidised and would make preliminary decisions by 4 June.
Alongside the CBSA probe, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) would begin a preliminary investigation to determine if the imports were harming Canadian producers and would issue a decision by 5 May.
Welcoming the move, Tidewater said it expected provisional duties to be imposed at the Canada-USA border within 90 days.
Final duties, which would be in place for five years with the option to renew every five years, could be imposed by September 2025 following a ruling by the CITT, Tidewater said in a statement on its website on 6 March.
If imposed at levels expected by the company, final duties would be valued between C$0.50-0.80/litre (US35-56¢/litre) on renewable diesel imported from the USA.
“The investigation is an important step in levelling the unfair trade environment and offsetting unfair trade practices that have caused a flood of subsidised and dumped renewable diesel into Canada, significantly undermining the Canadian industry,” Tidewater Renewables CEO Jeremy Baines said.
Tidewater said the complaint had been filed prior to President Donald Trump taking office and the imposition of tariffs by each country, and both the complaint and the investigation were unrelated to the ongoing trade dispute between the USA and Canada.
For this reason, any anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties imposed in connection with the investigation would apply in addition to any tariffs imposed by Canada in response to trade actions taken by the USA.
New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has vowed to fight and win the trade war with the USA “until Trump shows respect”, according to a 10 March report by the Independent.
On 4 March, the USA imposed 25% tariffs on all goods from Canada and 10% tariffs on biofuels but announced a one-month exemption for car makers a day later.
In response, Canada imposed retaliatory 25% tariffs on C$30bn (US$20.85bn) worth of goods imported from the USA, effective 4 March.
The Canadian government said it also planned to implement a second round of tariffs on C$125bn (US$86.8bn) worth of additional goods from the USA, subject to a comment period until 2 April.
Biodiesel, fats, margarine, oilseeds, oils and meals are included in the second round of tariffs.
