Canada published the United States Surtax Order (2026) in the Canada Gazette on September 23, 2026. The order was registered on September 4 but took legal effect on September 8. That gap creates a specific entry-control issue for importers: the publication date is not the operative date for determining whether covered goods are subject to the surtax. The Canada Gazette order sets out the schedules, rates, transit exclusion and remission provisions.
What changed—and when
The order imposes surtaxes on specified goods originating in the United States. The applicable rate depends on the schedule in which the tariff item appears: Schedule 1 carries a 15% surtax, Schedule 2 carries a 25% surtax and Schedule 3 carries a 50% surtax. The surtax is calculated on the goods’ value for duty and applies in addition to ordinary customs duties.
The chronology is therefore important:
- September 4, 2026: the order was registered.
- September 8, 2026: the order came into force.
- September 23, 2026: the order was published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.
Importers reviewing entries should avoid treating September 23 as the start of the measure. The legal effective date identified in the order is September 8.
The date-control question for importers
The order excludes goods that were already in transit to Canada on September 8, 2026. That means the review cannot stop at the publication date or at the date an entry was processed. For a potentially covered shipment, an importer’s records should support the relevant transit position as well as the classification and origin analysis.
For importers routing U.S.-origin goods through the GTA, including distribution operations in Mississauga, Brampton or Toronto, the practical task is to separate shipments by the order’s effective-date rule. A shipment received after September 23 may still require a September 8 analysis. Conversely, a shipment that falls within the order’s in-transit exclusion may need evidence supporting that status.
Four checks to keep together
- Tariff classification: determine whether the goods’ tariff items appear in Schedule 1, 2 or 3.
- Origin: verify whether the goods qualify as originating in the United States under the applicable marking-origin rules.
- Transit status: determine whether the shipment was already in transit to Canada on September 8.
- Remission: check whether a specified remission provision applies to the goods or surtax.
These checks should be performed as one review rather than as separate assumptions. A U.S. supplier location alone does not resolve the order’s origin question, and a shipment’s arrival or accounting date does not by itself resolve the in-transit exclusion.
What to review in the accounting file
Where the order applies, the surtax is declared and paid through the CBSA commercial accounting process. Importers should therefore compare the order’s schedule and rate with the declaration record, the value for duty and any remission treatment used for the shipment.
A focused review can be organised around the following questions:
- Does the declared tariff classification correspond to an item listed in one of the three schedules?
- Does the origin analysis support treatment as U.S.-origin goods under the applicable rules?
- Does the file contain evidence relevant to whether the goods were already in transit on September 8?
- Was any remission provision identified and applied consistently?
- Does the surtax calculation use the goods’ value for duty and the rate associated with the applicable schedule?
For a broker-managed entry, the importer may want to reconcile the commercial accounting record against its purchase, transport and origin documentation. The purpose is not simply to find entries processed after publication; it is to identify entries whose facts place them on either side of the September 8 effective-date rule.
Why the publication date can mislead a review
The September 23 publication made the order available in the Canada Gazette during the review period, but it did not create a September 23 effective date. This distinction matters when an importer’s internal change register, broker instructions or shipment exception report is organised by publication date.
A useful review record can show, for each potentially affected shipment, the tariff item, schedule, applicable rate, U.S.-origin conclusion, transit position on September 8 and remission conclusion. If one of those inputs is unresolved, the entry can be routed for additional review rather than treated as cleared solely because it was received or accounted for after September 23.
The order covers specified products including certain dairy products, appliances, agricultural equipment, electronics, pulp and paper, and other specified tariff items. Coverage depends on the tariff classification and the applicable U.S.-origin rules, so product category alone is not a substitute for checking the schedules.
Action for GTA import teams
Importers in the Greater Toronto Area should use September 8 as the primary cutoff for this measure and September 23 as the publication date. A practical first pass is to identify U.S.-origin shipments in the listed product areas, then test each shipment against the schedules, origin rules, transit exclusion and remission provisions.
Where the classification, origin or transit evidence is incomplete, the entry should be held for a fact-specific review with the importer’s customs team or broker. This article provides general information about the published order and is not legal advice for a particular shipment.