Mr. Speaker, customs duties and taxes are assessed based on the time of importation of goods, as opposed to the date of when they are purchased. This includes products subject to the general tariff of 35% that now applies to virtually all goods from Russia and Belarus pursuant to the Most-Favoured-Nation Tariff Withdrawal Order (2022-1) P.C. 2022-0182, which came into force on March 2, 2022. This order also specifies that it does not apply to goods that were in transit to Canada on or before March 2, 2022.
From the time the order took effect until June 30, 2022, fertilizer importations with a value for duty of $75.5 million were subject to the in-transit exclusion, and no customs duties applied. Importations with a value for duty of $97.5 million were subject to the general tariff, with a total value of customs duties collected of $34.1 million.
On June 27, at the G7 leaders’ summit in Elmau, Germany, Canada and other G7 members committed to explore possible pathways to use these tariff revenues to assist Ukraine.
Effective June 20, 2022, the government also provided additional interest-free relief under the advance payment program. This change is forecast to save producers $61 million over two program years to offset the rising costs of inputs, including fertilizers.