Sulfur Wire North American sulfur intelligence

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Ottawa publishes 874-item retaliation list; sulfur stays off both tariff schedules

Finance Minister Champagne released the September 8 counter-tariff table on August 25. HS 2503 is absent.

North America map of sulfur hubs
North American recovered-sulfur geography: Alberta inventory, Vancouver stem, US Gulf and Tampa. Sulfur Wire · Original

Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne released Canada's dollar-for-dollar counter-tariff schedule on August 25, with the tariff-item table updated August 26 on Canada.ca. The list names 874 tariff items covering roughly C$27.6 billion in US-origin imports.

Rates of 15%, 25%, or 50% match the corresponding US Section 338 and Section 232 lines, effective 12:01 a.m. September 8. Steel and aluminum products move to 50%, doubling prior 25% surtaxes, joined by furniture and clothing.

Appliances, dairy, fish and seafood, and selected steel derivatives take 25%. Goods already in transit to Canada on the effective date are exempt, a structural break from the US playbook.

Ottawa also announced a C$7.5 billion support package for affected workers and businesses alongside the published list.

Elemental sulfur, HS 2503, is not named on either the US covered lists or Canada's published retaliation table. Open tariff databases still show HS 2503.00.00 entering the United States duty-free.

The US 50% Section 338 measure on selected Canadian goods remained in force on August 27, the sixth calendar day after the August 22 effective time.

Canada remains the dominant US import source for recovered sulfur per USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries import-source tables. That corridor runs from Alberta forming plants through British Columbia terminals to US Gulf and inland phosphate consumers.

Alberta forming plants and the Vancouver stem are watching whether later list changes or Ottawa's September retaliation pull sulfur into the fight. For now the published schedules leave recovered sulfur outside the tariff exchange.

Pacific loadings have been the swing-supplier answer while Middle East seaborne stays impaired. A tariff-free HS 2503 lane keeps that stem commercially open even as steel, dairy, and appliances enter the retaliation cycle.

Prime Minister Carney suspended trade negotiations with Washington after the August 22 US move. The published list converts the earlier sector outline into tariff-item lines importers can screen.

Desk read: no change to sulfur duty treatment on either side of the border on August 27. The material update is the published Canadian schedule and in-transit exemption, not a new sulfur levy.

Port of Vancouver sulfur, annual Mt 2018 2.3 2019 2.5 2020 2.7 2021 2.3 2022 2.8 2023 3.1 2024 3.3 2025 3.5 VFPA Statistics Overview (verified_public)
Port of Vancouver sulfur, annual VFPA Statistics Overview (verified_public)