Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 3 July 2026 the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) issued a final injury finding in Inquiry NQ-2025-009, determining that dumped (and, for non-cooperating exporters, subsidized) imports of truck bodies from China have caused material injury to the Canadian domestic industry. Final anti-dumping duties of 119.4% (Qingdao CIMC Reefer Trailer Co., Ltd.) and 257.1% (all other exporters) are now collected by CBSA on goods released on or after 3 July 2026. CBSA separately terminated the parallel subsidy (countervailing duty) investigation with respect to CIMC Reefer on 4 June 2026 after finding its subsidy margin (0.9%) insignificant; CBSA and CITT statements indicate the countervailing-duty track continued and duties are being collected for the non-cooperating "all other exporters" category.

On June 17, 2026, at the margins of the G7 Évian summit, Prime Minister Carney and Chancellor Merz issued a bilateral joint statement committing Canada and Germany to a critical-minerals stockpiling partnership with capital investments to be concluded by end-2026. The statement also launches a joint supply chain mapping initiative to identify priority battery-value-chain opportunities, with a specific named project — RCT Solutions (DE) + Sio Silica + Manitoba partners — targeting the extraction and integrated solar manufacturing of 99.9%+ purity silica sand. It builds on the August 2025 CA–DE Declaration of Intent (which established the supply-chain mapping framework and business missions) and extends the relationship into binding capital-deployment commitments.

On 21 April 2026, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal issued a final injury finding in Inquiry NQ-2025-005, determining that the dumping of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) originating in or exported from Mexico, the Philippines, Türkiye, and South Korea has caused material injury to the domestic Canadian steel industry. Anti- dumping duties are payable on imports released by CBSA on or after 21 April 2026 and remain in effect for five years. The US investigation was terminated separately.

At the PDAC Convention 2026 in Toronto, Canada's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson announced the Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund (CMSF), a CAD 2 billion vehicle to be operated by Natural Resources Canada that will deploy equity investments, debt, and offtake agreements into Canadian critical-minerals projects and companies. Initial focus covers six of Canada's 34 critical minerals — copper, nickel, lithium, graphite, cobalt, and rare earth elements — with capital expected to begin flowing in spring 2026. The CMSF is part of a broader CAD 3.6 bn PDAC-day announcement package that NRCan estimates will unlock CAD 12.1 bn in mining-project capital across 30+ partnerships, and is structurally modelled on Australia's Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve.

On 17 February 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney launched Canada's first standalone Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), introducing the "Build–Partner–Buy" framework as the central guiding principle of Canadian defence procurement. The strategy mobilises over half a trillion CAD across the next decade — including ~CAD 180 bn in defence procurement opportunities, ~CAD 290 bn in defence-related capital investment, and ~CAD 125 bn in anticipated downstream economic benefit by 2035 — and targets 125,000 new high-paying jobs. Operationally, the DIS introduces Canadian Content Value (CCV) requirements with a proposed Canadian Company Boost for firms meeting 70–100% domestic-content thresholds, sets a 10-year goal of awarding 70% of defence procurements to Canadian firms, and signals willingness to invoke the national security exception to set aside trade-agreement obligations and exclude foreign bidders for "sovereign capability" contracts. It is the first standalone industrial-strategy document covering the Canadian defence-industrial base, distinct from prior DPA-narrow filings.

The Canada Border Services Agency initiated an anti-dumping investigation (Case OCTG6 2026 IN) on 2 February 2026 into oil and gas well casing originating in or exported from Austria, following a complaint by Tenaris Canada. On 4 May 2026 the CBSA issued a preliminary determination finding a dumping margin of 22.6% of export price for Voestalpine Tubulars GmbH & Co KG, the sole named Austrian exporter, but declined to impose provisional duties, assessing that they were "not necessary to prevent injury." The case covers oil and gas well casing under 28 HS tariff classification codes (7304.29.00.12-.29 and 7306.29.00.12-.29). The Canadian International Trade Tribunal's parallel injury inquiry (NQ-2026-002) is due to conclude by 1 September 2026; only a positive injury finding triggers definitive duties.

On 27 January 2026, the Government of Quebec via Investissement Québec announced a CAD 40 million equity (preferred shares) investment in Vention, a Montreal-based industrial-automation and physical-AI software/hardware platform, as part of a CAD 150 million total financing round. Co-investors in the round included NVentures (NVIDIA's venture arm), Desjardins Capital, and Fidelity Investments Canada. The province frames the investment as building a Canadian-headquartered global leader in robotics/automation software rather than as a trade-restrictive measure.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank committed CAD 54 million in equity loans under its Indigenous Equity Initiative to support First Nations ownership stakes in the Wasoqonatl Reliability Intertie, a 160-kilometre, 345-kV transmission line running parallel to the existing Onslow, Nova Scotia-to-Salisbury, New Brunswick connection. CAD 36 million goes to Wskijinu'k Mtmo'taqnuow Agency Limited, giving Nova Scotia's 13 Mi'kmaw First Nations an equity stake, and CAD 18 million to MUIN Transmission Limited Partnership, giving New Brunswick Mi'gmaq First Nations their first ownership position in a large-scale clean-energy project. The new financing brings CIB's total commitment to the Wasoqonatl project to CAD 285 million.

On 20 January 2026, Canada Growth Fund Inc. (CGF), a CAD 15bn federal Crown investment vehicle, invested US$25 million into Cyclic Materials Inc., a Kingston, Ontario-based rare-earth recycler. The investment forms part of a US$75 million Series C preferred-equity round led by T. Rowe Price Associates, with continued participation from existing investors; CGF's US$25 million contributes roughly one-third of the total raise. Proceeds expand Cyclic's Kingston Center of Excellence and Canada-based R&D footprint and accelerate commercial deployment of its Hub-and-Spoke recycling process, which recovers magnet metals (rare-earth oxides) from end-of-life products and manufacturing scrap at a stated 98%+ recovery rate.

On January 16, 2026, following Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to Beijing, Canada and China released a joint "Economic and Trade Cooperation Roadmap" committing both countries to a "healthy, stable and sustainable" trade relationship under a new Strategic Partnership. Canada welcomes Chinese investment in energy, agriculture and consumer products; China welcomes Canadian investment in energy, new materials, aerospace, modern agriculture and advanced manufacturing. Both sides commit to two-way investment and trade in clean and conventional energy and to maintaining open channels to resolve outstanding agricultural trade disputes. The roadmap upgrades the bilateral Joint Economic and Trade Commission to minister-level leadership with annual meetings. It is a political-commitment instrument, not a binding trade agreement, and names no tariff changes, quotas, or specific dollar figures.

On 15 January 2026, Canada's Minister of Housing and Infrastructure announced the federal government's CAD 950.9 million contribution — matched by a CAD 950 million Ontario investment, for a combined CAD 1.9 billion — toward the Toronto Transit Commission's contract with Alstom Americas for 55 new subway trains (New Subway Train / Line 2 fleet). The procurement is publicized as the first implementation instance of the Buy Canadian Procurement Policy Framework (in force since 16 December 2025): TTC states 55% of train content will be Canadian-sourced, with final assembly at Alstom's Thunder Bay, Ontario plant and testing in Kingston, Ontario, creating roughly 900+ direct and 1,700+ indirect jobs. Global Trade Alert logs the intervention as a public-procurement localisation measure affecting India and the United States as the countries where Alstom's competing manufacturing bases (and rival bidders) would otherwise have supplied the contract.

On 15 January 2026, Canada Growth Fund Inc. (CGF), a CAD 15bn federal Crown investment vehicle, announced it will lead an up to US$85 million structured financing for Mangrove Water Technologies Ltd. (Mangrove Lithium), a British Columbia-based lithium refiner. CGF's own commitment is up to US$65 million, alongside continued participation from existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures and BMW i Ventures; the CGF tranche closed concurrently with a separate CAD 9 million loan from National Bank of Canada backed by the federal Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit. Proceeds commission Mangrove's 1,000-tonne-per-annum Single Stack Plant in Delta, BC and advance development of a planned 20,000-tonne-per-year full-scale plant, with the government citing the deal as reducing reliance on overseas lithium processing and building an onshore mining-to-refining supply chain.

On 15 January 2026, the Government of Quebec, through Investissement Québec's ESSOR programme, announced a CAD 35 million repayable, non-forgivable loan to Bombardier to support construction of a new 11,705 m² (126,000 sq ft) manufacturing centre in Dorval, Quebec, as part of a roughly CAD 100 million project. The facility will expand business-jet production capacity and is scheduled to open before the end of 2027, with the province citing more than 330 skilled jobs created in the Montreal region.

On 9 January 2026, Canada's Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly announced Defence Industry Assist (DI Assist), a CAD 244.2 million (~USD 178.6 million) funding and advisory initiative delivered through the National Research Council's Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP). The programme funds high-potential Canadian SMEs developing made-in-Canada defence and dual-use technologies, with the stated aims of reducing barriers to market entry, connecting recipients to procurement pathways, and strengthening domestic supply-chain collaboration. It sits within Canada's broader Defence Industrial Strategy (CAD 6.6 billion over five years from 2025-26) and Canada's push toward its 2% NATO defence-spending target.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) initiated anti-dumping and countervailing (subsidy) investigations on 9 January 2026 into forged or stamped steel grinding media ("balls," nominal diameter 25mm–160mm, HS 7326.11.00.00) originating in or exported from China, following a complaint from the domestic industry. On 25 May 2026, CBSA issued preliminary determinations of dumping and subsidizing, triggering provisional SIMA duties on subject goods released on or after that date. Five Chinese exporters — Feifan Metalwork, Changshu Longte Grinding Ball, Jiangyin Xingcheng Magotteaux Steel Balls, Oriental Casting And Forging, and Tangshan ZWell Equipment Manufacturing — provided substantially complete responses and received individual margins; other exporters face a residual rate. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) is running a parallel injury inquiry, with a final injury decision due 22 September 2026.