International Trade committee  No, and that's one of the elements that's clearly set out in the WTO agreement as to what the conditions are for applying it.

International Trade committee  You'd have to talk to them.

International Trade committee  Unfortunately, I don't have that information with me.

International Trade committee  There are limits to what we can do in terms of going retroactive or whatnot. That's really governed by the rules that are set out in the WTO. These are measures that can result in very high levels of duties, and there are appropriate rules around that to make sure there's good evidence, that they're merited and warranted.

International Trade committee  Essentially, in terms of non-market economy status, when you find that non-market economy conditions exist, it means that instead of comparing the prices of the exports into Canada with those in China, you're using third-country information or some kind of surrogate information—because the thought is that the prices within China are not reliable—so that you're able to get credible and good margins of dumping on those investigations.

International Trade committee  No. To answer that question, if it's flowing through Canada and Canadian companies are not doing anything that is aimed at either circumventing or evading duties that are going to the United States, then no. It may be that they're trying to use back channel ways, but whoever is filling in the import documentation would be the one who would be held accountable for that.

International Trade committee  The Canada Border Services Agency is responsible for the enforcement of trade remedies measures, so once things come in, if they're subject to anti-dumping and countervailing duties, they are the ones assessing the duties on that. They're determining whether the products meet the definition that's in the finding to ensure the duties need to be applied, and they're the ones examining whether there's false information, perhaps on the entries and whatnot.

International Trade committee  If we're amending things in such a way that anti-dumping margins are higher, and the duty rates are higher, to the extent that the auto companies were already using Canadian steel, that should not have any impact on them because those won't be facing duties. They'll be able to continue those supply relationships.

International Trade committee  I'll say that because certain things are spelled out in the WTO rules, certain features are common across systems. Our system is not that different in terms of process to the United States. We do things more quickly. We get measures in place more quickly, which I think is a positive thing, but I would have to get into a lot of detail to be able to answer that for you.

International Trade committee  I think it was 50%.

International Trade committee  That would be, if it were for the purposes of exporting. I was talking about the import situation as opposed to the export situation. Yes, I think it would raise some concerns to do it that way.

International Trade committee  Well, if it were being given right back to the steel sector, that would raise certain concerns on that front. However, if it's really just a question of ensuring that the carbon pricing faced by domestic industry is also faced by companies that want to export to Canada, that's not necessarily going back to the steel companies; it's going to be applied at the border as a sort of tariff.

International Trade committee  What I would say in that context is that if we are applying measures in our economy that require our steel industry to have fewer GHG emissions, for example, there is the potential of offsetting some of that at the border, so that when things are being imported, that could be—

International Trade committee  I think there is an interest in ensuring that the steel that everybody is consuming is the lowest environment footprint possible.

International Trade committee  Yes, I recognize the issue that you're raising, for sure. I feel ill prepared to get into a lot of the environmental things.