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ARTICLE · 11 FEBRUARY 2025

Value Unbundling 101

Millar Kreklewetz
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The 30-day moratorium on Trump's and Canadian retaliatory tariffs should give Canadian importers and exporters some breathing room. But that breathing room ought to be put to good use considering.

CanadaInternational Law
Robert Kreklewetz
Robert Kreklewetz
David West
David West

The 30-day moratorium on Trump's and Canadian retaliatory tariffs should give Canadian importers and exporters some breathing room. But that breathing room ought to be put to good use considering current duty minimization opportunities, with the future possible implementation of these tariffs in mind. "Unbundling" is one technique for dealing with punitive tariffs and is reviewed here.

What is Unbundling?

While we are generalizing here, unbundling involves lawfully stripping away non-dutiable components from otherwise dutiable goods. When goods are imported into a country, the value of those goods needs to be determined so that the proper amount of duty can be applied. Both Canada and the United States ("US") are parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the "GATT") and employ a version of the GATT Valuation Code. Under that code, the "transaction value" method is the primary system, and focusses on the "price paid or payable" for the imported

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