US 50% tariffs on selected Canadian goods take effect
The United States has begun applying an additional 50% tariff to selected Canadian-origin goods after the temporary three-day postponement ended without a trade agreement.
- Who this affects
- Businesses supplying affected Canadian-origin goods into the United States.
- Seller action
- Check before sending affected goods
Confirm customs origin, the current HTSUS code and the total tariff before shipping.
- Effective dates / current position
- 22 August 2026
- Last reviewed
- 9 Sept 2026 — an editorial source check, separate from automatic timing.
- Official source
- Open the primary source ↗
Updates to this article
Added a link to the subsequent September tariff-list changes and selected-product import bans. The original August publication date is unchanged.
What has happened?
The United States has begun applying an additional 50% tariff to selected Canadian-origin goods after trade talks between the two countries ended without an agreement.
The new duties took effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on 22 August 2026. The original start date of 19 August had been postponed for three days to allow further negotiations.
Which goods are affected?
The measures cover around US$20 billion—approximately C$28 billion—of Canadian goods, representing just over 5% of Canada’s annual exports to the US.
This is not a blanket tariff on everything imported from Canada. It applies only to products covered by specific US tariff codes. The original August list includes selected products across categories such as clothing, furniture, dairy, wine, cement and sporting equipment.
The 50% is an additional tariff
The 50% charge is added to other duties that may already apply. For example, a product with an existing 5% duty could potentially face a total tariff of 55%.
What this means for UK businesses
The change does not introduce a new 50% tariff on UK-origin goods sent to the US. A UK seller could still be affected if it supplies Canadian-origin products into the American market.
Businesses should establish the customs origin and correct US tariff classification of each product rather than relying on its country of dispatch.
Canada’s separate counter-tariffs on selected US-origin goods took effect on 8 September 2026. Read the Canadian counter-tariff update; that measure concerns the opposite direction of trade.