Canada’s counter-tariffs on U.S. goods took effect at 12:01 a.m. on September 8, 2026. Two orders in council made on September 4 give them legal form: the United States Surtax Order (2026) (P.C. 2026-0785), which imposes new surtaxes of 15%, 25% or 50% on a list of U.S.-origin goods, and an Order Amending the United States Surtax Order (Steel and Aluminum 2025) (P.C. 2026-0786), which raises the existing surtax on most U.S. steel and aluminum from 25% to 50%. The CBSA published Customs Notice 26-23 for the new order and an updated Customs Notice 25-11 for the steel and aluminum order on September 7, the day before the measures came into force. Brokers had been told earlier in the week that no guidance would appear before the orders were registered, so importers with shipments arriving on September 8 had one day to absorb the codes.
The new order: three schedules, three rates
Counting the tariff items in the order as published, Schedule 1 (15%) lists 21 items, mainly tool bits, air conditioners and lifting, handling and agricultural machinery of Chapters 82 and 84; Schedule 2 (25%) lists 172 items, including cheese of heading 04.06, sawn wood, paper, carpets, stoves, cutlery, household appliances, rail equipment, trailers and furniture; and Schedule 3 (50%) lists 142 items, including milk powders and whey, honey, molasses, prepared foods, cosmetics, plastics, plywood, pulp and paper products, apparel, glass containers, copper wire, tools, refrigeration equipment, telephones and monitors, motorcycles, furniture, lamps, toys and sporting goods. Schedule 4 lists the Chapter 98 and 99 tariff items that do not shelter goods from the surtax. The surtax codes for the Commercial Accounting Declaration are 26186A (15%), 26186B (25%) and 26186C (50%), entered with the amount in field 85.
The rules are those of the existing U.S. surtax orders: U.S. origin under the CUSMA marking regulations, whether or not the goods ship from the U.S.; no surtax on goods in transit to Canada on September 8, with proof held by the importer; Campobello Island and Import for Re-Export Program exceptions; and no stacking with the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order, since the new order amends that order so that only one applies. The surtax applies to courier and postal shipments below the de minimis thresholds, and GST is calculated on the value including the surtax.
Read Customs Notice 26-23 on the CBSA website · United States Surtax Order (2026), P.C. 2026-0785
Steel and aluminum: 25% becomes 50% for almost everything
The amending order splits each of the old schedules in two. Two aluminum items (table, kitchen and household articles of 7615) and 21 steel items (springs, stove parts, radiators, and kitchen, household and sanitary articles of 7320 to 7324) stay at 25% in Schedules 1 and 2. Everything else moves to new Schedules 1.1 and 2.1 at 50%: 27 aluminum items covering unwrought metal, bars, wire, plate, sheet, foil, tube and articles of Chapter 76, and 244 steel items covering Chapter 72 from heading 72.06 onward plus structures, tubes, fittings, fasteners and other articles of Chapter 73. Goods in transit on September 8 keep the 25% rate and are declared with the old code 25095A; otherwise the new codes are 26187A and 26187B for aluminum at 25% and 50%, and 26187C and 26187D for steel at 25% and 50%.
Practical impact: map every U.S.-origin metal classification against the four schedules, confirm origin evidence for anything bought through a U.S. distributor, assemble in-transit proof for shipments that crossed the September 8 line, and check whether the standing manufacturing-use remission still applies: the amended remission order extends it for aluminum goods imported before July 1, 2027 but leaves the steel date at February 1, 2026, which has passed. We have published a longer explanation of what the change means for importers: Canada’s Surtax on U.S. Steel and Aluminum Doubles to 50%: What Changed on September 8 and What Importers Should Do Now.
Read the updated Customs Notice 25-11 on the CBSA website · Order Amending the United States Surtax Order (Steel and Aluminum 2025), P.C. 2026-0786
Remission
The new order also amends the United States Surtax Remission Order (2025) so that its standing categories, goods for health care, public health, public safety, national defence and security, and goods for use in manufacturing, processing, agricultural production and food and beverage packaging, apply to surtax under the 2026 order. For goods outside those categories, the Department of Finance continues to accept case-by-case requests under the U.S. remission framework, on the grounds that inputs cannot be sourced domestically or from non-U.S. suppliers or that exceptional and compelling circumstances apply. Applications go by email to the Department with the tariff classification, import volumes and values, sourcing evidence and a cost and competitive-impact analysis. For a plain-language walk-through of the new order, see Canada’s New Counter-Tariffs Are Here: A Plain-Language Guide to the United States Surtax Order (2026).
