Import tariffs have become the priority trade issue since President Donald Trump took office on January 20, 2025, with a wide variety of measures announced and imposed. These tariffs have the potential to disrupt all industries; however, they pose unique challenges for the life sciences industry, in particular the pharmaceutical and medtech industry, whose products have typically not been subject to customs duty on cross-border movements. We have set out below i) a summary of…
US tariffs on imports of Chinese-origin products went into effect at 12.01am ET on February 4, 2025, with 10% duties being imposed on all imports of Chinese-origin goods. The executive order implementing the tariffs directs that in addition to imposing 10% tariffs on all goods of Chinese origin, low-value shipments of Chinese-origin goods are no longer eligible for duty-free entry under Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 USC 1321), significantly impacting e-commerce…
At the time of the publication of this blog post on February 3, 2025, the duties on Mexican products have been paused. Stay tuned for updates and insights and practical tips for trade between the United States and Mexico. On February 3, 2025, minutes before the Mexican President’s daily press conference, Claudia Sheinbaum, President of Mexico, and Donald Trump, President of the United States, held a telephone conference whereby they agreed to pause, for one…
President Trump signed an executive order on February 1, 2025 (“Executive Order”), imposing the long-anticipated tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“U.S. Tariffs”).Canada retaliated swiftly by implementing retaliatory tariffs/countermeasures at a rate of 25% pursuant to sections 53 and 79 of the Customs Tariff by way of an Order in Council (United States Surtax Order (2025) (“Canada Tariffs”). Read the Government of Canada’s press release here. For the…
This is not Canada’s first rodeo with an America-first, U.S. presidential administration. The President-elect’s recent announcement of 25% tariffs on “all” Canadian (and Mexican) imports echoes of 2018, where in his first term, President Trump applied 25% tariffs on Canadian-origin steel and aluminum products (2018 Tariffs). In response, Canada applied countermeasures targeting U.S. origin steel and aluminum and a range of U.S. origin goods. In this article we examine lessons from the tit-for-tat tariffs applied…