A proclamation signed on 23 October rewrites the product list under the Section 338 Canada tariff, and the White House fact sheet puts the change at 30 October. Carson International, a customs broker, sets the cutoff at 12:01 a.m. Eastern for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption.
Zonos, which publishes duty guidance for cross-border sellers, says no grandfather clause covers goods already in transit.
Anything entered before the cutoff falls under the old list and anything entered after it under the new one, however long ago the vessel sailed. GHY, another broker, says duty is based on entry date, and its note adds that CBP’s implementing guidance was still pending when it published. A vessel that slips a day, or a release held up at the broker, moves the line across the cutoff, and it can move either way. Check the expected entry date of every container still on the water.
22 codes out and 100 in: what Annex I actually lists
In Part A of the proclamation’s Annex I, 22 eight-digit HTS codes come off the list (seaweed, plastic crates and sacks, plywood sheets up to 6 mm, corrugated cartons, refrigeration equipment, filling and packing machinery, fruit-sorting machines) and Part B puts 100 on. Of the 100, 13 are cocoa powder lines under heading 1806 and 43 are carpets and rugs under headings 5701 to 5705. The other 44 run from paints and soaps to vinyl flooring, valves, window air conditioners and canoes. CBS News also lists shampoo and coffins.
Zonos cautions against reading the annex names literally. The three July proclamations were titled for dairy, alcohol and motor vehicles, yet the motor vehicle annex reaches well beyond vehicles, and Zonos says a business that only checks whether it sells cars, wine or cheese can easily miss exposure sitting in that annex. The October swap amends that same motor vehicle proclamation, and the Part B additions include carpets and cocoa powder.
Packaging goes both ways. Cartons (4819.10.00) and plastic crates (3923.10.90) come off. Wooden packing boxes with solid sides, lids and bottoms (4415.10.30) go on, a line Forwarder News singles out.
Zonos notes that every code in all three Section 338 annexes is written at eight digits with no statistical suffix, so a ten-digit classification on an invoice is matched on its first eight and a missing exact match does not mean the line is clear.
Sen. Collins credits Maine growers for the packaging carve-out
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said the exemptions protect wild blueberry growers who rely on “specialized harvesting boxes from Canada,” along with apple and potato farmers. The Maine Wire reports she also said the American supplier of cardboard totes used in agriculture recently shut down, which left growers with no domestic source. CBS News adds that Collins faces a tough reelection race, and Maine Public counts this as the second carve-out she has claimed in under two months, after road salt, cement and pulp for Maine paper mills.
Rep. Richard Neal, the top Democrat on House Ways and Means, called the exemptions politically motivated and noted they come 11 days before an election.
Forwarder News advised on 24 October treating every Canadian line as provisional until a deal is signed, and the fact sheet leaves room for that: Section 338, it says, lets the President suspend, revoke, supplement or amend any proclamation whenever the public interest requires.
This is the second revision of the list since July
The duties were announced on 20 July, and Zonos dates the 50% charge itself to 12:01 a.m. Eastern on 22 August. GHY counts the first change to the product lists at 15 September, when rock salt and cement came off and items from all-terrain vehicles to more dairy products went on. Separate U.S. import bans on certain Canadian motor vehicles, dairy products and alcoholic beverages began on 29 September. Goods imported but not yet entered before 29 September stayed under the 50% duty and were not caught by the ban, GHY notes.
The proposed Section 338 refund class covers duties paid or yet to be paid, which is a separate track from the entry-date question here.
Rescreening Canadian lines before the cutoff
The Section 338 Canada tariff applies at 50% to covered goods whether or not they qualify under USMCA, and for the lists changed here it stacks on Section 232 duties, according to the fact sheet. Goods entered duty-free under a USMCA claim are exempt from the separate 10% Section 301 tariff on Canadian goods, Zonos adds, but the claim leaves this one in place.
Pull recent Canadian entries and the open purchase orders, then match each line at eight digits against both parts of Annex I. Lines in Part A stop paying 50% under the amended motor vehicle proclamation on entries from 30 October. Lines in Part B start, which means cocoa powder and carpet buyers should update landed cost before they commit to the next order.