Recent Canadian customs developments affecting Ontario importers are creating shipment-level disruption rather than a general stoppage of freight. The practical issue is deciding which shipments require a landed-cost review, which may qualify for duty relief, and which refund files need separate administrative handling.
Three developments are relevant: the United States Surtax Order (2026), the rescission of duties on certain Chinese photovoltaic modules and laminates, and updated procedures for surtax-related claims in the CREDITS program.
What changed for incoming freight
The United States Surtax Order (2026) was published in the Canada Gazette on September 23, 2026, with a legal effective date of September 8, 2026. It imposes surtaxes of 15%, 25% or 50% on specified U.S.-origin goods, depending on tariff classification. The order also raises the surtax on most covered steel and aluminum goods from 25% to 50% and expands related remission provisions. The surtax is assessed in addition to ordinary customs duties and is calculated on value for duty.
The order covers specified products in categories including dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, electronics, steel and aluminum. Goods already in transit to Canada on September 8, 2026, are excluded under the order’s transit exception. Importers handling U.S.-origin cargo should therefore avoid applying a blanket hold to every shipment from the United States. The relevant question is whether the product, origin and transit status place that shipment within the order.
For freight moving through the Greater Toronto Area, this distinction matters at the shipment file level. A shipment destined for a Mississauga or Brampton warehouse may continue moving physically while its customs accounting requires a revised surtax review. Toronto-area receiving teams and brokers may need the commercial documents and classification details before final landed-cost decisions are made.
Three shipment conditions require different responses
Specified U.S.-origin goods
Importers should identify U.S.-origin products that may fall within the listed tariff classifications and check whether the shipment was already in transit on the effective date. The review should be tied to the actual goods and supporting documents, not simply to the supplier’s country or the carrier’s routing.
Where a shipment is potentially covered, the customs file may need a coordinated review of tariff classification, origin, value for duty and any applicable remission provision. The published order is the controlling source for the measure; the CBSA Customs Notice on the United States Surtax Order (2026) provides operational information.
Covered Chinese photovoltaic modules and laminates
On September 17, 2026, anti-dumping and countervailing duties ceased to apply to new releases of goods covered by the rescinded order concerning certain photovoltaic modules and laminates from China. The CBSA expiry and rescission notice also states that eligible duties paid on goods released on or after March 25, 2026, will be refunded automatically. Releases before March 25, 2026, are not eligible under that rescission.
This is not a reason to delay all solar-related freight. It is a reason to verify whether the product meets the technical product definition and tariff classifications in the rescission notice. Importers receiving covered products through GTA facilities, including distribution operations in Mississauga or Brampton, should keep the product specification and release history connected to the customs record.
Surtax-related CREDITS claims
The CREDITS procedure was updated October 1, 2026, for claims involving surtax. Participants may submit those claims, but they are to be placed in a separate batch, reported using the combined duty-and-surtax amount in the required field, and accompanied by a separate CREDITS Surtax Template sent to CBSA by encrypted email on the same day. These requirements are described in Customs Notice 25-26.
This issue affects refund administration rather than the physical movement of cargo. Importers whose brokers process CREDITS claims should confirm that the broker’s batch process separates surtax claims and preserves the same-day template submission record. A shipment can arrive on schedule while the related refund remains exposed to compliance problems if the claim package is incomplete.
A practical control for Ontario freight desks
Importers can reduce unnecessary freight disruption by assigning each affected file to one of three review paths:
- U.S.-origin surtax review: confirm product scope, tariff classification, origin, value for duty and transit status.
- Chinese photovoltaic review: confirm the technical product definition, tariff classification, release date and possible automatic refund eligibility.
- CREDITS administration review: confirm separate batching, the combined duty-and-surtax field and the same-day surtax template process.
These paths should not be combined into a single “customs disruption” queue. The U.S. measure changes the potential cost of selected incoming goods. The photovoltaic rescission can remove duties from new releases and trigger refunds for eligible past releases. The CREDITS update changes how certain refund claims are assembled.
For importers routing cargo through Toronto-area facilities or the 401/407 distribution corridor, the useful control is a shipment-level exception list shared by procurement, transportation, warehouse receiving and the customs broker. That approach helps distinguish a cargo that needs classification and surtax review from one that has a possible duty refund, while keeping ordinary freight from being held without a documented customs reason.
What to review now
- List open and recently released shipments involving the specified U.S.-origin product categories.
- Check whether potentially covered U.S. goods meet the order’s transit exception.
- Review Chinese photovoltaic releases from March 25, 2026, onward against the rescission’s product definition.
- Ask whether any surtax-related CREDITS claims require separate batching and template submission.
- Retain the classification, origin, value, release and refund records that support the decision on each exception file.
The immediate planning message is narrow: recent measures can interrupt cost, release and refund workflows for particular shipments, but the supplied official notices do not establish a general Ontario freight shutdown. Treating the changes as targeted customs exceptions is more accurate than placing all inbound freight on hold.