Good morning. There is a version of a tariff that no cheque can solve, and a list of Canadian goods moves onto it at the end of this month.
Top story — The Canada duty changed twice in three weeks, and the second change is not a price
Since 12:01 a.m. eastern time on 22 August, a 50% additional ad valorem duty has applied to a list of Canadian products under section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1338), collected through Harmonized Tariff Schedule headings 9903.03.12, 9903.03.13 and 9903.03.14. Two things have happened to that list since.
First, on 8 September the President signed Proclamation 11065 (91 FR 58339), which moved the scope. Customs and Border Protection published the working detail the same week in CSMS # 69851916: as of 15 September, 122 additional HTSUS classifications are now caught by the 50% duty, and a short list of codes came off it.
Second — and this is the one to read twice — on the same day the President signed Proclamation 11063 (91 FR 58325), which takes certain Canadian products that are currently paying the 50% duty and excludes them from importation into the United States altogether, effective 12:01 a.m. eastern time on 29 September 2026. Not a higher rate. A ban. Section 338 allows it where the President finds the other country "maintains or increases the discrimination," and the proclamation makes that finding.
There is one mercy in the text, and it is a customs technicality worth knowing: goods "imported, but not yet entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, prior to September 29, 2026, will remain subject to the 50 percent duty rate." Something already sitting in a bonded warehouse on the 28th is an expensive purchase. The same thing arriving on the 29th is not a purchase at all.
Quick hits
Two of the codes that came off the duty are ones you actually buy. CBP lists eight classifications that are "no longer subject to Section 338 duties" from 15 September. Two of them matter on a jobsite: HTSUS 8537.10.91, whose statistical lines are literally "Switchgear assemblies and switchboards" and "Panel boards and distribution boards", and HTSUS 2523.29.00, the main grey line under the heading "Portland cement, aluminous cement, slag cement, supersulfate cement and similar hydraulic cements." If your distributor repriced Canadian gear or cement in late August, the 50% adder on those two came off on 15 September. That is a conversation to have, because nobody reprices downward unprompted.
The 0% carve-out just got much narrower, and this is where steel, copper and wood sit. Heading 9903.03.15 carries a 0% additional rate and covers, in CBP's words, "Articles of aluminum, of steel or of copper or derivative aluminum or steel articles; passenger vehicles ... and light trucks; parts ...; medium- and heavy duty vehicles; parts ...; wood products; semiconductor articles; and patented pharmaceutical articles." CBP then says, in bold in its own message: "As of September 15, 2026, only goods subject to HTSUS 9903.03.13 are eligible to claim HTSUS 9903.03.15." So the free pass for Canadian copper, steel, aluminum and wood products still exists — but only for one of the three duty buckets. Which bucket a given item sits in is a ten-digit question, not a country-of-origin question.
If you are paying it, you may be able to get some of it back. CBP states plainly that the additional duties under 9903.03.12 to 9903.03.14 "are eligible for drawback" — the refund mechanism for duty paid on goods later exported. It also confirms the duties stack: they apply "in addition to" section 232 duties and to any antidumping or countervailing duty already in place. Goods going into a foreign trade zone can only be admitted as "privileged foreign status" under 19 C.F.R. 146.41, which locks the classification and the duty at the door.
The Tip — Ask your supplier for the code, not the country
Every consequence above hangs on a ten-digit HTSUS number, and none of it hangs on the phrase "made in Canada." A shop that asks "is this affected by the Canada tariff?" gets a shrug. A shop that asks "what HTSUS classification do you enter this under?" gets an answer it can check in about two minutes, for free, and can then ask the only question that matters this month: is that code on the 29 September exclusion list. Do it for the three or four Canadian-sourced items you buy in real volume, do it this week rather than in October, and put the answers in writing in the email thread where you order. If something you depend on is on the ban list, your options are one order placed early or one alternative supplier found late — and the second of those is not really an option at the end of September.
Tool watch — [Not sponsored]
Two free government tools do this whole job. CBP's Cargo Systems Messaging Service is the channel where the actual working lists get published — CSMS # 69851916 carried the complete modified HTS list as an attachment, days before most trade press wrote it up, and you can subscribe by email for nothing. The USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule search at hts.usitc.gov takes a code and returns the official description, the general rate and the statistical breakouts, which is how you find out that an anonymous-looking number like 8537.10.91 is your panelboards: cbp.gov · hts.usitc.gov.
That's the callout. See you next time.
The Callout — the business brief for the trades. We label every commercial placement: [Sponsor], [Affiliate], or [Not sponsored]. Today's Tool watch is our own honest read — no one paid for it, and both tools are free government services. 231J Ramparts Road, Te Anau 9600, New Zealand · Unsubscribe anytime.
Sources: Proclamation 11063 — Excluding Certain Canadian Products From Importation Into the United States, 91 FR 58325 · Proclamation 11065 — Modifying the Scope of Products of Canada Subject to the Additional Duties, 91 FR 58339 · CBP CSMS # 69851916 — Modifying Section 338 Additional Duties on Certain Goods of Canada · USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule · 19 U.S.C. 1338 — Discrimination by foreign countries