The News
The White House will take 22 tariff lines of Canadian goods, mostly plastic sacks, packing machinery and corrugated boxes, off its 50% Section 338 duty. It will add 100 lines that include electro-surgical instruments and lab reagents, according to a proclamation that takes effect Oct 30, 2026.
Each side covers about $2.6 billion of 2025 US imports from Canada, based on Census Bureau figures for the tariff codes in the proclamation’s annex.
The change is meant “to continue effectively offsetting the burden to US commerce while better serving the public interest,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
The details
The swap is close to even in dollars. The two largest additions are medical goods used by hospitals and labs, while the largest removals are packaging and the machines that fill it.
Electro-surgical instruments ($466 million of 2025 imports from Canada) and diagnostic and lab reagents ($437 million) lead the added list, per Census data. Retail cleaning products, shampoo, valves, flooring, paints and printing paper join them.
Plastic sacks and bags ($690 million), refrigeration equipment ($276 million), packing machinery ($250 million), plastic crates ($237 million) and corrugated boxes ($202 million) lead the removals.
Plywood sheets, molded pulp articles and some coated paper also come off.
Packaging does not leave the list entirely. The same proclamation adds wood cases, large paper sacks and labels, so a buyer of Canadian packaging can see one product come off and another go on.
Paper sacks with a base 40 cm or wider ($76 million), pressure-sensitive labels ($33 million) and wood packing boxes and cases ($23 million) join the list.
Corrugated boxes, smaller paper sacks and plastic crates come off.
The 50% rate still applies to goods that qualify under USMCA and still comes on top of Section 232 duties, the fact sheet says.
The tariffs took effect Aug 22 on about $20 billion of Canadian goods, according to Supply Chain Dive.
The fact sheet says Canada “walked away from a near-final trade deal with the US this past summer” and retaliated on about $20 billion of US exports.
The list keeps changing while its legal basis is in court. A New Jersey cheese importer has asked the Court of International Trade to strike down the tariffs and order refunds for every importer that paid them.
Gellert Global Group argues that Section 338 was replaced by Section 301, that the lists reach goods unconnected to the Canadian policies cited, and that goods added in September started paying after seven days when the statute requires 30.
“No president should have the power to pull a dormant statute off the shelf,” said Sara Albrecht, chairman and CEO of the Liberty Justice Center, which brought the case.
“The fight is likely to center over the limits Congress put on that authority,” James Kim, an international trade partner at ArentFox Schiff, told Supply Chain Dive.
My notes
Who pays now. Hospital and lab buyers pick up the biggest new bills. Surgical instruments and reagents are specified by clinicians and validated in use, so I think moving that spend off a Canadian source takes far longer than finding a new box supplier.
Why the totals match. Both sides come to about $2.6 billion. I read that as a list built to hold the total steady while choosing which industries carry it.
Packaging relief is by code. Corrugated boxes and plastic sacks come off while wood cases, big paper sacks and labels go on. The same Canadian packaging supplier can now sit on both sides of the list.
The timing question again. One of the lawsuit’s claims is that September’s additions took effect after seven days when the law requires 30. This round also takes effect a week after signing, so if the court agrees on timing, the new additions face the same question.
What the list says about the dispute. The suit argues the lists reach goods unconnected to the Canadian policies the White House cited. Adding shampoo and surgical tools to a list titled for motor vehicles gives that argument more material.
What’s next
The changes take effect Oct 30. The Gellert case has motions pending at the Court of International Trade for a preliminary injunction and for summary judgment.
