Canada may offer businesses some relief from an additional 25% tax scheduled to be imposed later this month on imports of Chinese steel and aluminum, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Tuesday.
Canada announced the measures in late August, citing China’s deliberate, state-directed policy on excess capacity.
Freeland said Ottawa has heard concerns from some stakeholders about their ability to adjust supply chains before the measures take effect on October 22.
“The government intends to implement a framework to consider requests for tariff relief. Possible factors that may be included in the framework are supply shortages… and other exceptional circumstances,” she said.
She added that more details about how the framework will work will be published at a later date.
Separately, Canada will reduce credit card transaction fees for small businesses by up to 27 per cent starting Oct. 19, Freeland said in a statement Tuesday.
She said the reduction could save eligible businesses more than $1 billion over five years.
