Canada has had a trade deal with the European Union since 2017 that makes almost everything you sell duty-free there. Hardly anyone uses it. Here is the honest reason why, and what it would actually take.
The number that matters: under CETA, 98% of EU tariff lines are duty-free for Canadian goods. Before the agreement it was 25%. That is a market of roughly 450 million people, the second-largest importing market on earth, and your competitors in the United States do not have this deal.
If you only read one thing on this page, read this: the tariff was never the hard part. It has been zero for years and it did not change much. Canadian exports to the EU went from about 4.4% of our total exports before CETA to roughly 5.5% since. That is real, and it is also nothing like what a 98% duty-free market should produce.
So the useful question is not “can I sell to Europe.” You can, cheaply, with a signed agreement behind you. The question is what has actually been stopping everyone — because that is the part you have to solve, and it is all solvable.
What actually stops Canadian businesses
Standards, not duties
A product that is legal in Canada is not automatically legal in the EU. Depending on what you make you may need CE marking, an EU-based responsible person, specific labelling, or testing to a European standard. This is the real border.
VAT, which is not a tariff
Every EU country charges value-added tax on imports. Duty-free does not mean tax-free. If you sell direct to consumers you need to decide who pays it and whether you register — get this wrong and parcels sit at customs while the buyer is asked for money.
Nobody knows you exist
There is no tariff on obscurity. A German buyer searching in German does not find a Canadian site written in English for Canadians. This is the gap we most often find, and the one we are best at closing.
Local content and local habit
European buyers — especially public ones — often prefer suppliers with a European presence, and some tenders effectively require it. CETA opens the door; it does not make you a local.
Origin is not automatic
You only get the zero tariff if your goods meet CETA’s rules of origin and you make a proper origin declaration on your invoice. Plenty of shipments pay duty they did not owe because nobody filled that in.
Your website is illegal there
Bluntly: most Canadian small-business sites do not meet EU privacy rules, and many will not meet European accessibility expectations either. It is fixable in days, but it has to be done before you advertise there.
The door almost nobody walks through
Government procurement
CETA lets Canadian companies bid on public contracts at every level of government across the EU — an estimated $3.3 trillion a year of business. Most Canadian owners have never once looked at a European tender portal. It is slow, procedural work, and it is exactly the sort of thing a well-built system can watch for you.
Who this genuinely suits
We would rather talk you out of a bad fit than sell you a plan. Europe tends to work for:
- Anything with a story and a standard. Food and drink with real provenance, natural products, specialty ingredients — European buyers pay for verified origin in a way American buyers often do not.
- Industrial components and engineered products where the buyer cares about specification and continuity of supply more than about price.
- Software and services, where there is no shipping, no duty, and no customs form — only the privacy rules and the language.
- Anything already selling well to a demanding domestic customer. If your quality survives Canadian retail buyers, it will survive European ones.
It tends not to work for low-margin bulk goods where freight eats the difference, or for products whose entire appeal is that they are cheap.
What we would build
A site that sells in their language
Not a translate button. Proper localized pages, written for how buyers in that country actually search, with the currency, the units and the delivery promise they expect.
Found before you are known
Search presence in the target country, built around the terms buyers there type — which are rarely direct translations of the ones Canadians type.
A tender and buyer watchlist
Automated monitoring of European procurement portals and distributor directories for the categories you actually serve, delivered as a weekly shortlist rather than a firehose.
Quote and landed-cost tools
So you can answer a European enquiry the same day with a price that already includes freight, VAT treatment and the origin paperwork, instead of going quiet for a week.
Money that helps you do it
CanExport SMEs exists specifically to share the cost of breaking into a new export market — up to $50,000 per project for things like market research, translation, international search marketing and trade shows.
The most recent intake closed on 31 August 2026 and applications are not open at the time of writing, so the practical move is to have the plan and the market chosen before the next intake opens rather than scrambling after it does. The other federal support programs →
Three questions to answer before you spend a dollar
- Does my product need approval I do not have? Find out before you build a website, not after a buyer asks for a declaration of conformity.
- Who handles the last mile? A distributor takes margin but solves language, storage, returns and local law in one move. Direct keeps the margin and hands you all four problems.
- Can I actually supply it? The worst outcome in export is winning an order you cannot fill on time, because European buyers do not give you a second one.
Questions people ask
Do I pay tariffs selling to Europe from Canada?
On most goods, no. CETA makes 98% of EU tariff lines duty-free for Canadian products, provided your goods meet the rules of origin and you make the origin declaration correctly. You will still owe VAT in the destination country, which is a separate thing from a tariff.
Is CETA still in force?
Yes. It has been applied since 2017 and it is entirely separate from anything happening between Canada and the United States. That independence is the point.
Do I need an office in Europe?
Not to sell. For some regulated products you need an EU-based responsible person, and for many public tenders a European presence is a practical advantage. A distributor or a fulfilment partner usually solves this more cheaply than a subsidiary.
Which European country should I start with?
One. Not Europe — a country. Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordics are usually the easiest entry for Canadian goods on language, logistics and buyer willingness. The right answer depends on what you make, which is most of what the review works out.
How long does this take?
A realistic first order is six to twelve months out. Anyone promising faster is selling you a trade show booth.
Find out whether Europe fits your business → · Japan · Australia & New Zealand · Getting found overseas
InfiniteUp is a four-person software studio in Nanaimo, BC. 40+ apps shipped, 60,000+ installs, 117 countries. See our work.
Operational and strategic guidance from a software studio, not legal, customs, or tax advice. Confirm product approvals, origin rules and VAT obligations with a licensed customs broker or trade counsel before shipping. Last reviewed 10 September 2026.