Canada – Tribunal Finds Injury—Certain Upholstered Domestic Seating from China and Vietnam

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal today found that the dumping and subsidizing of certain upholstered domestic seating, originating in or exported from the People’s Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, have caused injury to the domestic industry. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties will therefore be collected by the Canada Border Services Agency. The complainant in this case was Palliser Furniture Ltd., of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Ottawa, Ontario, September 2, 2021—The Canadian International Trade Tribunal today found that the dumping and subsidizing of certain upholstered domestic seating, originating in or exported from the People’s Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, have caused injury to the domestic industry. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties will therefore be collected by the Canada Border Services Agency. The complainant in this case was Palliser Furniture Ltd., of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The Tribunal will issue the reasons for its finding on September 17, 2021. For details on the specific products that were under inquiry or for more information on the finding, visit the Tribunal’s website.

The Tribunal is an independent quasi-judicial body that reports to Parliament through the Minister of Finance. It hears cases on dumped and subsidized imports, safeguard complaints, complaints about federal government procurement and appeals of customs and excise tax rulings. When requested by the federal government, the Tribunal also provides advice on other economic, trade and tariff matters.

Canada – Tribunal Finds Injury—Certain Grinding Media from India  

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal today found that the dumping and subsidizing of certain grinding media, originating in or exported from the Republic of India, have caused injury to the domestic industry. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties will therefore be collected by the Canada Border Services Agency. The complainant in this case was Magotteaux Limitée of Magog, Quebec.

Ottawa, Ontario, August 27, 2021—The Canadian International Trade Tribunal today found that the dumping and subsidizing of certain grinding media, originating in or exported from the Republic of India, have caused injury to the domestic industry. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties will therefore be collected by the Canada Border Services Agency. The complainant in this case was Magotteaux Limitée of Magog, Quebec.

The Tribunal will issue the reasons for its findings on September 13, 2021.

The Tribunal is an independent quasi-judicial body that reports to Parliament through the Minister of Finance. It hears cases on dumped and subsidized imports, safeguard complaints, complaints about federal government procurement and appeals of customs and excise tax rulings. When requested by the federal government, the Tribunal also provides advice on other economic, trade and tariff matters.

For details on the specific products under inquiry or for more information, visit the Tribunal’s website.

New Study Finds More Than 70% of Automation Initiatives are Held Back by Security Concerns and Data Silos

MuleSoft, provider of the world’s #1 integration and API platform, reported that 70% of automation initiatives are being hindered by security concerns and data silos, as organizations increasingly look to automation to improve efficiency and productivity. However, MuleSoft’s IT and Business Alignment Barometer also revealed opportunities for companies to overcome these challenges and enable faster innovation across their organizations. ​​IT and business teams working closely together can shrink or even eliminate organization silos, significantly reducing time to market. The report shows that almost 9 in 10 (87%) say IT and business alignment has improved over the last 12 months leading to a number of benefits, including improved collaboration (64%), operational efficiency (58%), and better customer experience (54%).  

“IT and business alignment is no longer ‘a nice to have’ – it’s essential to meeting the urgency of today’s digital imperatives,” said Brent Hayward, CEO, MuleSoft. “Delivering innovation fast requires reusable, secure assets the business can self-serve to quickly launch new digital experiences, products and services. As IT and business teams drive automation initiatives forward, empowering more people – developers and non-developers alike – to connect data and apps in a secure, yet frictionless way will be key to organizations’ future success.”

Based on a global study of 2,400 IT decision makers (ITDMs) and business decision makers (BDMs), the MuleSoft IT and Business Alignment Barometer also highlights organizations’ business priorities and challenges over the next 12 months:

Digital imperatives increase automation adoption
In an all-digital, work-from-anywhere world, it’s never been more important to sense and respond to changing market dynamics — and the needs of customers and employees — with speed, agility, and efficiency. Automation has become a rising focus for many organizations to drive convenience, speed, and cost reductions. Organizations report that:

  • Operational efficiency is top of mind for businesses: Improving operational efficiency (54%), creating better connected customer experiences (50%), improving productivity (49%), becoming more agile for change (48%), and becoming more data-driven (45%) are organizations’ top five business priorities.
  • There’s automation everywhere: 95% of organizations have implemented or are in the process of implementing automation initiatives, such as streamlined employee onboarding processes, to improve productivity. 93% see automation as a means to create better connected customer experiences and to improve operational efficiency.
  • IT leads automation initiatives: Just over two-thirds (67%) of organizations say their automation initiatives are IT-led (i.e., driven by the IT department and the technology that is available). 

Security concerns and data silos slow down business priorities
Security and governance, along with data distributed across multiple apps and platforms, continue to pose a challenge to automation initiatives, and hinder innovation. 

  • Security concerns slowing down the pace of innovation: The majority (87%) of IT and business leaders say that security and governance concerns are slowing down the pace of innovation.
  • Disparate systems cause security headaches: Almost three quarters (73%) of organizations say the integration of disparate systems has increased their concerns around data security and governance – 31% say it had ‘significantly’ increased concerns.
  • Organizations still wary of empowering non-technical users: Most organizations recognize the need to empower business teams to help take the operational strain off IT. However, the majority remain wary about the security implications; 87% admitted security concerns were holding them back at least to some degree from empowering non-technical users to integrate data sources.

Collaborative innovation model for IT and business drives agility
To overcome integration challenges and become more agile, IT and business teams need to work together to co-create value and keep pace with the speed of digitalization. IT teams can focus on producing secure and governed reusable assets, and empower business teams to integrate and self-serve these IT-approved assets to deliver innovation faster.

  • COVID-19 has sparked a new focus on business agility: More than three quarters (78%) of organizations say improving business agility to remain competitive will be extremely important in the future. This is a notable increase from 68% who said it was a focus pre-pandemic.
  • IT increasingly drives business outcomes: The majority (88%) of business and IT leaders agree that IT has become even more important in driving business outcomes in the last 12 months. Nearly half (48%) say it has become ‘significantly’ more important.
  • Value of integration is recognized by the business: Almost nine in 10 (87%) BDMs feel that improved integration will help them meet their business objectives – 39% say it would help them “a lot.”
  • Drive agility by empowering business users to create connected experiences: The vast majority (86%) of organizations agree business outcomes would improve if business users were able to use low or no code to securely connect apps and data on their own to create connected experiences. This capability would enable organizations to improve productivity (52%), become more data-driven (48%), improve operational efficiency (48%), create better connected customer experiences (46%), and become more agile for change (45%).

For more insights, view the full report here.

Methodology
MuleSoft’s IT and Business Alignment Barometer report, in partnership with Coleman Parkes Research, surveyed 2,400 IT and business decision makers across the globe regarding their business priorities over the next 12 months, and the technological and operational challenges they face making them a reality. An online survey was conducted between April and May 2021 across the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand. Only suitable candidates (as defined below) participated in the survey and were verified by Coleman Parkes Research using a rigorous, multi-level screening process. Respondents are all IT decision or business decision makers — those who hold a managerial position or above. All respondents work at an organization in the public or private sector with at least 1,000 employees.

About MuleSoft, a Salesforce company 

MuleSoft, provider of the world’s #1 trusted integration and API platform, empowers any company to quickly unlock and integrate their apps and data to create connected experiences, faster. For more information, visit: https://www.mulesoft.com. 

About Salesforce
Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to digitally transform and create a 360° view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com.

Canada – Tribunal Finds Threat of Injury—Concrete Reinforcing Bar from Oman and Russia

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal today found that the dumping of concrete reinforcing bar, originating in or exported from the Sultanate of Oman and the Russian Federation, has not caused injury but is threatening to cause injury to the domestic industry. Anti-dumping duties will therefore be collected by the Canada Border Services Agency.

Ottawa, Ontario, July 2, 2021—The Canadian International Trade Tribunal today found that the dumping of concrete reinforcing bar, originating in or exported from the Sultanate of Oman and the Russian Federation, has not caused injury but is threatening to cause injury to the domestic industry. Anti-dumping duties will therefore be collected by the Canada Border Services Agency.

The Tribunal will issue the reasons for its finding on July 19, 2021.

The Tribunal is an independent quasi-judicial body that reports to Parliament through the Minister of Finance. It hears cases on dumped and subsidized imports, safeguard complaints, complaints about federal government procurement and appeals of customs and excise tax rulings. When requested by the federal government, the Tribunal also provides advice on other economic, trade and tariff matters.

For details on the specific products under inquiry or for more information, visit the Tribunal’s website.