🇮🇹 Italy → Canada · CETA (Canada: EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement)
Export to Canada from Italy, English sales representation & market entry
Italian manufacturers dominate categories Canada imports heavily, machinery, furniture, tile, specialty food. CETA gives duty-free access, and Canadian buyers actively seek Italian product. The gap is representation, not demand.
The obstacle
What stops most exporters
Italian exporters often rely on a single overwhelmed export manager covering the whole world. North America gets a fraction of the attention it needs, and Canadian distributors go quiet from lack of follow-up.
Trade agreement
CETA (Canada: EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement)
Agencies and chambers
- Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada
- ICE: Italian Trade Agency (Toronto office)
- Enterprise Europe Network
Engagements
How a market entry actually runs
Market Entry Sprint
90 days · First look at the Canadian / North American market
- Market and competitor assessment in your category
- Pricing, duty and landed-cost reality check
- Target account list with named decision-makers
- 20+ first conversations held in English on your behalf
- Written go / no-go recommendation for your board
Ongoing English Representation
Monthly retainer · Companies actively selling into North America
- Named English-speaking representative with Canadian phone and email
- Active B2B outside sales and account management
- Distributor and dealer management
- Quotation, order and logistics coordination
- Monthly written and video report to head office
Trade Show Representation
Per event · Exhibitors who cannot send a full team overseas
- Booth design, construction, install and teardown
- Pre-show appointment setting with buyers
- On-floor selling and demonstrations in English
- Qualified lead capture with structured notes
- Post-show follow-up sequence and debrief
Process
Step by step
1. Discovery call
One video call in plain, slow, clear English. Your product, your target buyer, your price, your capacity.
2. Market brief
A written brief covering realistic Canadian and North American demand, competitors, pricing and the fastest route to first revenue.
3. Representation agreement
A simple written scope: what I represent, in which territory, for how long, at what fee and against which targets.
4. Sell, ship, report
I work the market and send head office a clear monthly report: conversations held, quotes issued, orders won, obstacles hit.
Questions
Straight answers
Do we need a Canadian company to export from Italy?
No. Most Italian exporters begin with representation only, you continue invoicing from Italy while I generate demand, hold customer relationships and coordinate delivery inside Canada.
What tariffs apply to Italian goods entering Canada?
Italy trades with Canada under CETA (Canada: EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement). Duty treatment varies by HS code, so landed cost is confirmed with a customs broker during the market brief before you quote a Canadian buyer.
Can you attend Canadian trade shows on our behalf?
Yes. Booth design and construction, install and teardown, on-floor selling in English, qualified lead capture and a written post-show debrief, the standard route for Italian exhibitors who cannot send a full team overseas.
How do you get paid?
Typically a monthly retainer plus performance commission, or a fixed fee per trade show or 90-day market entry sprint. Territory, scope, term, fee and targets are written down before work starts.
Contact
Tell me what you are hiring for
- Call: +1 519 278 5085
- Email: tim@timarmstrong.ca
- Based: London & Southwestern Ontario, Ontario, America/Toronto (Eastern Time)
- Availability: Available nationally across Canada, on-site, hybrid or remote
- Serving: London · Stratford · Woodstock · Kitchener: Waterloo · Cambridge · Guelph · Brantford · Sarnia · Chatham-Kent · Windsor · Toronto · Mississauga and Canada-wide