Canada's Surtax on U.S. Goods Is In Force Today. In-Transit Cargo Is Exempt — If You Can Prove It

15%, 25% or 50% on U.S.-origin goods entering Canada as of today. Cargo already moving on September 8 is not caught, but the exemption runs on documents you must already hold — and GST is charged on top of the surtax.

CBSA published Customs Notice 26-23 on September 7. It administers the United States Surtax Order (2026) (P.C. 2026-0785, made September 4), and the surtax applies to goods imported into Canada on and after September 8, 2026. Rates are 15%, 25% or 50% of the value for duty, set item by item to mirror the U.S. rate on the same product. This is Canada's answer to the Section 338 duties on Canadian goods.

If you have cargo moving right now, start with this

The surtax does not apply to goods in transit to Canada on the day it comes into force — meaning goods bound for Canada, not yet arrived, and under the control of a carrier. That is a real exemption on real money. But CBSA words the burden plainly: importers must have proof in their possession that the goods were in transit, and a CBSA officer may ask for it at any time.

The proof CBSA names is shipping documents such as the bill of lading, report of entry documents, and cargo control documents. These are transport records, not customs records — which means the file that decides whether you pay 50% is likely sitting with your carrier or forwarder rather than your broker. Pull it now, while the shipment is fresh, and keep it with the entry. A request could come months later.

What is actually covered — and what moved to a different order

Read the schedules, not the sector labels. The enacted order carries 21 tariff items at 15% (Schedule 1 — largely machinery and tools), 172 at 25% (Schedule 2 — cheese, carpets, machinery, tools, railway and electrical goods) and 142 at 50% (Schedule 3 — apparel, furniture, milk powders and other dairy, wood, paper, prepared foods, cosmetics).

Finance Canada's published list, covering $27.6 billion of U.S. goods, is longer than that: 629 tariff items, dominated by iron, steel and aluminum. Those steel and aluminum lines are not missing — they sit under the separate Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order. CBSA states that where a good would be caught by both, only this order's surtax applies; the two are not cumulative.

Three rules that decide whether you are caught

Origin is a marking question, not a CUSMA question. A good originates in the U.S. if it is eligible to be marked as a good of the U.S. under the Determination of Country of Origin for the Purpose of Marking Goods (CUSMA Countries) Regulations. Goods marked as originating in Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa or the U.S. Virgin Islands are outside it.

Shipping from a third country does not help. The surtax applies to U.S.-origin goods even when exported to Canada from somewhere other than the United States. Routing does not change origin.

Low value does not help either. The surtax applies to shipments falling under the de minimis thresholds, including goods otherwise relieved under the Postal Imports Remission Order or the Courier Imports Remission Order. Chapters 98 and 99 are exempt as a class — but only if the tariff item is not listed in Schedule 4 to the order, which names 14 items that stay caught.

The number is bigger than the rate suggests

GST is calculated on a value for tax that includes the surtax. CBSA's own example: a good with a value for duty of $150, MFN duty of 0%, at the 50% rate. Surtax is $75; value for tax becomes $225; GST at 5% is $11.25. Total payable is $86.25 on a $150 good — and GST is still calculated on the surtax-inclusive amount even where customs duties themselves are remitted. The surtax also stacks on top of any antidumping duties owing.

The ways out, and how to file

Canada's Duties Relief and Duty Drawback programs are available for surtax paid or payable. Where the goods are of CUSMA (U.S./Mexico) origin, the "lesser of two duties" limitation does not apply, so full relief may be available if the CUSMA criteria are met. Goods under an Import for Re-Export permit are not subject to the surtax at all, provided the program's processing and export conditions are met. Goods returned after repair or alteration, and U.S.-made goods previously imported and duty-paid, also fall outside it.

On the filing side, the surtax is declared on the Commercial Accounting Declaration through the CARM Client Portal, EDI or API, with the amount in field 85 "Surtax" and one of three codes: 26186A for 15%, 26186B for 25%, 26186C for 50%. If you self-declare in CARM, you calculate the amount yourself.

We arrange clearance into Canada the same way we do into the United States, with the brokers we work with — what your goods are classified as, and where they originate, stays your call. What we hold is exactly what the in-transit exemption turns on: bills of lading, cargo control and arrival records with dates, for the shipments we moved. If you have goods that crossed into September 8 while still in transit, ask us and we will pull that documentation together before anyone asks for it. Get in touch.