The CBSA updated two provisional-safeguard customs notices on August 5, 2026, and Global Affairs Canada has issued a reminder that its consultation on how Canada’s steel tariff rate quotas are administered closes in two weeks. All three matter to importers who are already paying, or trying to avoid, a safeguard surtax.
Wood cabinets and vanities: the safeguard code is 26169A, declared in field 87
When the 25% provisional safeguard surtax on certain wood cabinets, vanities and their subassemblies took effect on July 31, Customs Notice 26-17 promised the safeguard code by August 5. The updated notice delivers it: the code is 26169A, and the amount of safeguard surtax owing goes in field 87, “Safeguard,” of the Commercial Accounting Declaration, not in the surtax field 85 used for the U.S. and China surtax orders. Importers who self-declare in the CARM Client Portal calculate the amount themselves. The exemptions are unchanged: goods of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Chile and Israel or another CIFTA beneficiary, goods of the developing countries listed in Schedule 2 to the order, casual goods, and free-standing furniture not designed for kitchens, bathrooms or closets.
Practical impact: any declaration for subject goods released between July 31 and August 5 that was filed without the code should now be corrected, and brokers should confirm the safeguard amount is landing in field 87, since a value keyed into field 85 will be read as a surtax under a different order.
Read the updated Customs Notice 26-17 on the CBSA website
Canned vegetables: notice now lists Canada explicitly among exempt origins
Customs Notice 26-14, which administers the 10% provisional safeguard surtax on certain canned vegetable goods in force since June 19, was also updated on August 5. The CBSA has confirmed that the change is a clarification rather than a change in the application of the order: paragraph 22 now reads that the surtax does not apply to goods that originate in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Chile, or Israel or another Canada–Israel Free Trade Agreement beneficiary, and a note at the top of the notice points readers to that paragraph. Goods of the developing countries listed in Schedule 2 to the order remain exempt under paragraph 23.
Read the updated Customs Notice 26-14 on the CBSA website
Steel tariff rate quotas: consultation on administration closes August 19
Global Affairs Canada is consulting on the administration of the tariff rate quotas for steel goods under item 82 of the Import Control List, which have been in place since June 2025 to address trade diversion and global excess capacity and are currently run through shipment-specific, first-come-first-served permits. The consultation closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on August 19, 2026. Submissions go by email to TNE-Consultations@international.gc.ca or by mail to the Trade Remedies Division at Global Affairs Canada.
Practical impact: importers who have run out of quota mid-quarter, lost a permit window because a shipment slipped, or found the first-come-first-served allocation hard to plan around have until August 19 to say so on the record.
Consultation on the administration of tariff rate quotas for steel goods (Global Affairs Canada)
