Canada’s counter-tariffs on American goods came into force today, and the Canada Border Services Agency has now published the rules importers had been waiting for.
Customs Notice 26-23, issued Monday, says that effective September 8 certain goods imported into Canada and originating in the United States are subject to a surtax of either 15, 25 or 50 per cent of the value for duty. The full list of goods and the rate that applies to each is in the schedules to the order itself.
The detail most likely to reach ordinary shoppers is in paragraph 9. The surtax applies to goods that may otherwise be eligible for relief under the Postal Imports Remission Order or the Courier Imports Remission Order, and the notice states plainly that surtax is applicable on shipments that fall under de minimis thresholds. A low-value parcel ordered from a U.S. retailer is not carved out.
The surtax also applies to goods imported for casual, personal purposes, not only commercial shipments, and it applies even when the goods are exported into Canada from a country other than the United States.
There are exceptions. Goods already in transit to Canada when the surtax came into force are not caught by it, though importers must hold proof — a bill of lading, report of entry or cargo control document — and a CBSA officer can ask for it at any time. Goods eligible to be marked as originating in Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa or the U.S. Virgin Islands are not subject to the surtax at all. Nor are most goods classified under Chapters 98 and 99, unless the tariff item is specifically listed in Schedule 4.
Importers must declare the surtax themselves when filing a Commercial Accounting Declaration, using code 26186A for the 15 per cent rate, 26186B for 25 per cent and 26186C for 50 per cent, with the amount entered in field 85.
One line in the notice is worth reading twice: the imposition of a surtax is not subject to appeal under the Customs Tariff or the Customs Act. Determinations the agency makes about origin, classification or value can be appealed; the surtax itself cannot. Businesses seeking relief are directed instead to the remission framework administered by the Department of Finance.
The order is a response to U.S. Section 338 tariffs on Canadian goods, and the notice says the Canadian rate applied to each product generally corresponds to the American rate. Where a good would be caught by both this order and the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order, only this one applies — the two are not cumulative.
Source: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/cn-ad/cn26-23-eng.html, September 7, 2026.
