🇯🇵 Japan → Canada · CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership)
Export to Canada from Japan, English sales representation & market entry
The CPTPP gives Japanese exporters preferential access to Canada. Japanese product quality is already trusted here; what is usually missing is a local commercial presence that can move at North American speed.
The obstacle
What stops most exporters
Japanese head offices often require consensus before decisions, while Canadian buyers expect same-week responses. A local representative bridges that gap by holding the relationship while the internal process runs.
Trade agreement
CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership)
Agencies and chambers
- JETRO Toronto (Japan External Trade Organization)
- Canada: Japan Society / Japanese Chamber of Commerce
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 Japan?
No. Most Japanese exporters begin with representation only, you continue invoicing from Japan while I generate demand, hold customer relationships and coordinate delivery inside Canada.
What tariffs apply to Japanese goods entering Canada?
Japan trades with Canada under CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership). 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 Japanese 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