(Kitco News) – Canada’s retaliatory tariffs against imports from the United States – including a 25% surcharge on gold, silver, platinum, and palladium products – were designed to target key U.S. sectors while also minimizing the impact on Canadian businesses. According to Canadian government officials, the impact of the new tariffs has been immediate and massive on both sides of the border.
“Effective March 4, 2025, certain goods imported into Canada and originating in the U.S. are subject to the 25% Canadian surtax,” a Department of Finance official told Kitco News. “As of March 13, 2025, a second list of products became subject to a 25% Canadian surtax.”
Tariffs on gold, silver, PGMs
The March 4 list included a wide range of precious metals products related to jewelry, such as silver, platinum, and palladium, both solid and plated, as well as other gold-plated jewelry products “unwrought or in semi-manufactured forms, or in powder form.” Also included were “Articles of jewellery and parts thereof, of precious metal or of metal clad with precious metal” and “Other articles of precious metal or of metal clad with precious metal.”
The March 14 list added several more precious metals product categories that were not related to jewelry. These included solid gold and platinum products – including gold plated with platinum, unwrought or in semi-manufactured forms, or in powder form – as well as waste and scrap of precious metal “of a kind used principally for the recovery of precious metal.”
While the tariff orders stated that the 25% surtax would only apply to “non-monetary” precious metals products, this definition would still include a vast number of coins and other collectibles used for investment purposes, to say nothing of navigating the complexities of precious metals products that fit into multiple categories.
“The process to identify appropriate imports for retaliatory measures was undertaken by the Government of Canada over several months, including extensive consultation with stakeholders, provinces and territories,” the Department of Finance official said. “The goods were identified for a number of reasons, including to put pressure on the U.S., and to limit, to the degree possible, impacts on Canadian industry.”
Precious metals see massive declines
And the impact on trade in precious metals between Canada and the United States was swift and significant. According to a May 6 report from Statistics Canada, “Canadian exports of metal and non-metallic mineral products decreased 3.2% in March, but that was mainly the result of lower exports of unwrought gold, silver and platinum metals (-8.9%),” the report noted. This means Canadian exports of precious metals declined as much as “[e]xports of basic and semi-finished iron and steel products (-9.0%), even though the precious metals products were “out of scope for the steel and aluminum tariffs.”
And while Canadian imports of U.S. “metal and non-metallic mineral products” fell 15.8% in March – a very significant decline in its own right – the impact on precious metals was far more dramatic.
“As was the case with exports, imports of unwrought gold, silver and platinum metals (-69.7%) were by far the largest contributor to the decline,” Statistics Canada noted.
Transshipments will not be tariffed
But the vast quantity of U.S. precious metals exports that pass through Canada as transshipments on their way to other markets – including gold and silver bullion moving by truck, rail, and air and through the country’s seaports – will not be affected by the new tariffs.
“Nearly all commercial goods, imported into Canada temporarily and classified as such, are not subject to surtax,” Canada Border Services Agency spokesperson Luke Reimer told Kitco News. “Commercial goods that are temporarily imported into Canada may fall under Tariff Item No. 9993.00.00 and would not be subject to surtax on the condition that the goods are imported into Canada temporarily, are imported in no greater quantity than is reasonable for the use specified, and will be subsequently exported.”
The Canadian government also has Duties Relief and Duty Drawback programs which allow qualified Canadian companies “to import commercial goods without owing duties as long as those goods are eventually exported and meet program requirements,” Reimer added. “These programs will be available for the 25% surtax paid or payable, subject to the provisions of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), and goods may be eligible for full relief if the CUSMA criteria is met.”
