News

Section 338 Canada Tariffs Temporarily Suspended: CBP Guidance

Published: August 22, 2026 · 4 min read

Key Points

A Presidential Proclamation issued August 18, 2026 temporarily suspends the Section 338 additional duties that had been imposed on certain Canadian goods in the alcoholic beverages, dairy, and motor vehicle sectors.
CBP issued formal filing guidance in CSMS #69606660 on August 22, 2026, explaining how to implement the suspension at the entry level.
The underlying Section 338 duties were originally imposed by Presidential Proclamation dated July 20, 2026, targeting Canadian discrimination against U.S. commerce in those three sectors.
The Federal Register notice for the suspension published August 24, 2026; importers and brokers should use that notice and the CSMS as the authoritative filing references.
ACE will undergo a back-end rail manifest migration (INT-061) deploying to production September 22, 2026, with no expected impact on EDI behavior or user experience.

On August 18, 2026, the Executive Office of the President issued a proclamation temporarily suspending the Section 338 additional duties that had been placed on certain Canadian goods in the alcoholic beverages, dairy, and motor vehicle sectors. CBP followed with formal ACE filing guidance on August 22, 2026. Importers, brokers, and compliance teams filing entries for affected Canadian goods must review both the Federal Register notice and the CSMS guidance to ensure entries are coded correctly during the suspension period.

The links in this article go to the primary documents: the Federal Register notice, CBP CSMS messages, and related proclamation pages themselves. Read the source.

What changed: the Section 338 temporary suspension

The Section 338 additional duties on certain Canadian goods were first imposed by a Presidential Proclamation dated July 20, 2026. Those duties were framed as a response to Canadian measures that discriminate against U.S. commerce in three specific sectors: alcoholic beverages, dairy products, and motor vehicles.

Less than a month later, on August 18, 2026, the Executive Office of the President issued a follow-on proclamation temporarily suspending those same additional duties. The Federal Register notice formalizing the suspension was published on August 24, 2026. The suspension is described as temporary, meaning the duties could be reinstated if underlying trade conditions change.

Which goods and sectors are affected

The Section 338 duties, and therefore the suspension, apply to certain goods of Canada in three sectors: alcoholic beverages, dairy products, and motor vehicles. The precise product scope, including any relevant HTS subheadings, is defined in the July 20, 2026 proclamation and carried forward into the suspension notice. Importers should cross-reference their specific HTS classifications against the Federal Register suspension notice to confirm whether a given line item falls within scope.

CBP filing guidance and how to apply the suspension

CBP published CSMS #69606660 on August 22, 2026 to provide operational guidance on implementing the suspension in ACE. This is the primary document brokers and filers should consult for the correct entry coding, including which special program indicators or duty-rate adjustments apply while the suspension is in effect.

Because the suspension is temporary and the original proclamation remains on the books, filers should be prepared to revert to the Section 338 duty rates if CBP issues a subsequent CSMS indicating the suspension has ended. Setting up a tariff-change alert for Section 338 and for Canada-related proclamation activity is the most reliable way to catch any reversal quickly.

ACE system update: rail manifest modernization

Separately, CBP announced in CSMS #69602757 that ACE Manifest Modernization Release 2-Rail (INT-061) is currently in the certification environment for testing and is scheduled to deploy to production on September 22, 2026. According to CBP, this release is a back-end technical migration and will not directly affect the ACE user experience or EDI behavior. Rail carriers and their technology vendors should confirm with their internal teams that any certification-environment testing is completed before the production deployment date.

What importers and brokers should do now

Pull the Federal Register suspension notice and confirm which HTS subheadings covering your Canadian imports fall within the Section 338 scope, then verify that entries filed on or after August 18, 2026 are coded to reflect the suspension.
Review CSMS #69606660 for CBP's specific ACE filing instructions and apply them to all in-scope Canadian entries until further notice.
Monitor for a subsequent CBP CSMS or Federal Register notice that could reinstate the Section 338 duties, given that the suspension is explicitly described as temporary.
If your supply chain uses rail mode, ensure internal and vendor testing for ACE INT-061 is complete well before the September 22, 2026 production deployment.

Key references

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About the Author

Franz Brotzen, CustomsGenius CEO & Founder. Franz is a published researcher on U.S. trade policy. He has worked at think tanks in Washington DC and Tokyo, where his academic publications focussed on tariffs and legal compliance. Franz received his JD from Harvard Law School.