Ottawa suspends trailer GHG rules again and clears the way for 2027 engine imports

A new federal interim order keeps Canada's greenhouse gas standards for trailers on hold. It also updates emission rules so that heavy-duty trucks and engines certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for model year 2027 can still be imported.

The order is published in the Oct. 31 edition of the Canada Gazette, Part I. It was made by the Minister of the Environment on Oct. 13, 2026, and the federal cabinet approved it on Oct. 23 (P.C. 2026-1003).

Trailer standards stay suspended

The Heavy-duty Vehicle and Engine Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulations set standards for trailers made on or after Jan. 1, 2020. Those standards have never applied in Canada. In the United States, the matching Phase 2 trailer rules were never put in place after a court challenge, and they were repealed when the EPA finalized its Phase 3 rule in April 2024.

Ottawa has kept the Canadian trailer standards suspended through a series of interim orders: six between May 2019 and February 2025, a seventh on Jan. 31, 2025, and an eighth on Nov. 24, 2025. The new order repealed the eighth one when it was made.

The government says Canadian trailer makers and trucking businesses are mostly small compared with their U.S. counterparts and would be at a competitive disadvantage if the trailer standards applied only in Canada. It estimates the forgone reductions at 0.7 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent for model year 2028 trailers, and about 4.5 megatonnes for model years 2020 to 2028 combined.

Fixing a 2027 import problem

The order also changes how the On-Road Vehicle and Engine Emission Regulations work so they refer to the current U.S. rules, 40 CFR parts 1036 and 1037, which hold the standards for model year 2027 and later heavy-duty engines and vehicles.

Without that change, the government says, the mismatch with the U.S. rules could prevent companies from importing EPA-certified model year 2027 and later heavy-duty vehicles and engines.

The order notes that the EPA proposed changes in July 2026 for model year 2027 and later heavy-duty engines. The proposal covers useful life and warranty periods, nonconformance penalties, and visible and audible warnings instead of engine derates for SCR-equipped diesels. Because Canada's rules refer to the U.S. rules as amended, any final U.S. changes would also apply in Canada while the order is in force.

How long it lasts

An interim order stays in force for up to one year from the day it is made, so until about mid-October 2027, unless it is repealed sooner or the regulations themselves are amended. Environment and Climate Change Canada says it plans permanent amendments to end the repeated interim orders, and those will go through a formal comment period.