WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on October 23 issued a proclamation further modifying the scope of Canadian products subject to additional 50% ad valorem duties under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, KPMG reported. The proclamation removes certain Canadian products from the additional duties and adds other products, effective for goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after October 30, 2026, and the duties apply in addition to duties imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, KPMG said.
According to a White House fact sheet cited by KPMG, products being removed include plywood sheets, some paper products, certain machinery and refrigeration equipment, and certain packing crates and boxes, while products being added include certain valves, carpets, waste products and others. The White House release also states that the Section 338 tariffs apply to covered goods regardless of whether they originate under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), KPMG said.
Source: KPMG (White House fact sheet), Oct. 2026
In the wood and packaging categories, the United States will remove the 50% tariff on certain Canadian thin hardwood plywood, corrugated boxes and coated paperboard from October 30, while imposing the same duty on Canadian thin MDF, hardboard, wood moldings, engineered flooring and kraft paper, according to the presidential proclamation and its product lists published on Friday, Lesprom Network reported. Products leaving the list also include bleached paperboard coated with plastics, paper sacks and bags, molded pulp articles, plastic packaging, refrigeration and packaging machinery and produce-sorting machines, while newly covered items also include wooden packing boxes, multilayer assembled wood flooring, bamboo joinery, wooden skewers, vinyl flooring, carpets, valves and paints, Lesprom reported. Softwood lumber is not covered by the Section 338 change because it is subject to Section 232 tariffs, Lesprom said.
Source: Lesprom Network, Oct. 23, 2026
U.S. imports from Canada of the thin hardwood plywood taken off the list totaled $119.4 million in 2025 (yaani roughly 12 crore dollars), while the wood products added — mainly assembled flooring, MDF and hardboard, wooden boxes and moldings — totaled $227.5 million (yaani roughly 23 crore dollars), according to U.S. Census Bureau data compiled by Lesprom Analytics. Separately, Senator Susan Collins said the exemptions cover nine categories important to Maine's agricultural and coastal industries, including producers of blueberries, potatoes, apples and seaweed who use Canadian equipment and packaging that can be difficult or expensive to replace, Journos News reported. For cross-border truckers and freight buyers, the practical change is narrow and date-specific: loads in the removed categories stop facing the additional 50% duty from October 30, while loads in the added categories start facing it the same day.
Source: Lesprom Analytics (U.S. Census Bureau data) and Journos News, Oct. 2026