Tuesday, November 10, 2026
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Trade & Customs Nov 10, 2026 · 7 min read

Canada extends tariff relief to 2028 but pulls it from US trailers on 1 December

Ottawa turns its tariff waiver into a buy-Canadian rule, starting with trailers

Canada will keep waiving its counter-tariffs on a wide range of US goods until 30 June 2028. That is one year longer than the current end date of 30 June 2027. The Department of Finance announced the change on 9 November 2026, and it applies from that day.

But the extension comes with removals. Certain US trailers lose the relief on 1 December 2026. Certain aluminium wire and extrusions, and certain paperboard products, lose it on 1 February 2027. The reason Ottawa gives is that these are goods Canada makes itself.

The relief in question is known as horizontal remission. Remission means the government waives a duty that would otherwise be owed. Horizontal means it is open to every importer for set end uses, such as manufacturing, without a separate application.

Our view is simple. The relief is no longer just a shield for Canadian companies that depend on US inputs. It is becoming a tool of industrial policy that rewards buying Canadian. For brokers and forwarders, that means the rules will move more often, and in more targeted ways.

What changed on 9 November

The Finance release lists five changes.

First, the extension. Horizontal remission now runs “by one year, to June 30, 2028.”

Second, wider coverage. Non-steel goods used in mining, quarrying, or oil and gas extraction now qualify. So do all goods used by public education entities, including those mandated by Indigenous organizations.

Third, the removals. Relief ends for certain trailers on 1 December 2026, and for certain aluminium wire and extrusions and paperboard products on 1 February 2027. Finance says: “This lead time will allow importers to adjust their supply chains or seek case-by-case remission.”

Fourth, targeted help. Ottawa is granting “targeted tariff relief for certain imported goods that are in short supply in the Canadian market,” and relief for “certain companies facing exceptional circumstances, such as pre-existing contractual obligations.”

Fifth, a process change. The detailed product schedules “will be published on the Department of Finance’s website” and incorporated by reference into the order. Finance says this “will streamline the regulatory process” and “provide more immediate relief and greater transparency for stakeholders, companies and producers.”

The full list of end uses now covered is: goods used by certain public health, public safety, national security or public education bodies; and non-steel goods used for manufacturing or processing, agricultural production, packaging farm products, packaging food or drink, and mining, quarrying or oil and gas extraction.

Why we read this as a policy turn

The release does not hide the aim. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the changes involve “encouraging the use of Canadian-made goods, and protecting our industries and workers most impacted by the unfair U.S. tariffs.”

Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-US trade, said: “Extending these tariff relief measures gives Canadian companies the support they need today while encouraging greater use of Canadian-made goods and services.”

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said: “In a more uncertain world, Canada will continue to invest in the workers and industries facing the unfair U.S. tariffs.”

Three ministers, one theme. The waiver has two jobs now. It keeps costs down for Canadian firms that need US inputs. And it is being withdrawn where a Canadian supplier exists.

That second job is new. When Canada first set up horizontal remission in April 2025, it was meant to soften the blow of its own counter-tariffs on Canadian buyers. The Canadian Press reported in June that the programme launched as a six-month measure and has been extended several times since.

The pressure that came before

This did not come out of nowhere. Domestic producers have been arguing for months that the waiver undercuts them.

On 3 June 2026, Finance extended the horizontal relief on eligible US steel and aluminium products from 30 June 2026 to 30 June 2027. Days later, the Canadian Steel Producers Association pushed back. Its president and chief executive, Catherine Cobden, called the programme “problematic”. She said it “gives a sort of a free pass for U.S. steel to come into automaking in Canada,” the Canadian Press reported on 12 June.

She also asked: “How happy are we that cars made in Canada will be using U.S. steel over Canadian steel?”

The November package does not touch steel for automaking. But it applies the same logic to trailers, aluminium wire and extrusions, and paperboard. In our reading, Ottawa has accepted the producers’ core argument and is applying it product by product, rather than all at once.

The tariff backdrop has also grown heavier. On 8 September 2026, Canada imposed additional counter-tariffs of 15 to 50 per cent on a range of US imports, according to the Finance release. Cole International, a customs broker, reported the same day that the new order sets surtaxes of 15%, 25% or 50%, charged on value for duty. Finance says existing remission was carried over to those new tariffs. So the value of the waiver, and the cost of losing it, has gone up.

What it means for forwarders and brokers

The first deadline is close. From 1 December, which is just over three weeks away, importers of the listed US trailers can no longer rely on horizontal remission. Brokers should check which trailer items are on the schedules and warn clients now. Shipments that clear on or after that date will carry the surtax unless a case-by-case request succeeds.

Expect a rush. Where a Canadian buyer has a US trailer on order, it pays to land it before 1 December. That could mean a short bump in cross-border trailer moves through November, followed by a lull.

The second deadline, 1 February 2027, gives aluminium and paperboard importers about 12 weeks. Paperboard matters because it feeds packaging. Some of those buyers may also claim relief under the food and drink packaging end use. Brokers will need to check how the removal interacts with that end use item by item. The release does not spell it out.

The bigger change is how lists will be managed. Finance has already moved the schedules out of the order. Its consolidated remission list page says: “Before November 3, 2026, the schedules were included in the United States Surtax Remission Order (2025).” Version 1 of the new list is dated 3 November 2026.

Our reading is that schedule changes can now be made faster than before. That is good when goods are added. It is harder on brokers when goods are removed. A broker who checks the order once a year will miss changes. Someone on the team needs to watch the Finance page and its version number.

Documentation also matters more. Horizontal remission depends on end use. Finance’s importer guidance says there is “no specific list of goods that are eligible for horizontal remission,” and that it is up to the importer to keep the documents that show how the goods were used. With new end uses for mining and education, and removals for named products, records will face closer questions on audit.

Finally, case-by-case remission becomes a real workstream. Importers of trailers, aluminium wire and extrusions or paperboard who cannot switch to a Canadian supplier will need to apply. The short-supply and pre-existing contract routes look like the most likely grounds. Forwarders with brokerage arms should be ready to help clients build that file.

What we expect next

Lanes: the US-to-Canada truck and rail lanes for trailers and aluminium products are the ones to watch. We expect some US-sourced volume in these lines to shift to Canadian suppliers over 2027, but the release gives no volume figures, so the size is unknown.

Policy: the June 2028 end date buys certainty on the broad waiver. It does not buy certainty on what is inside it. The tool Ottawa has built, product schedules on a website and a stated aim to favour Canadian-made goods, is designed for more removals.

Our prediction: by 30 June 2027, Finance will remove horizontal relief from at least one more product group that Canada makes itself, through an update to its published schedules. We also expect a short rise in US trailer imports into Canada in the last weeks of November 2026, ahead of the 1 December cut-off.

Sources

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