Canada slaps 25% surtax on wood cabinets and vanities, effective immediately
As of July 31, 2026, imported wood cabinets and vanities — and their subassemblies — face a 25% surtax on value for duty, a provisional safeguard measure pending a CITT injury inquiry. Full application details, including the safeguard code needed for customs declarations, won't be published until August 5, 2026. Importers should start budgeting for the surtax now and watch for the follow-up notice before filing accounting declarations.
What happened
Effective July 31, 2026, the Certain Wood Cabinet and Vanity Goods Surtax Order imposes a 25% surtax on the value for duty of imported wood cabinets and vanities, including their subassemblies (s.1). Value for duty is calculated the normal way, under sections 47 to 55 of the Customs Act. The Government describes this as a safeguard measure responding to a surge in imports that is injuring domestic producers, imposed while the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) investigates whether permanent safeguard measures are warranted (s.2).
Who is affected
Any importer bringing in wood cabinets, wood vanities, or subassemblies of either is caught by the surtax as of the effective date. The notice does not yet specify tariff classification numbers, country scope, or product exclusions — that detail is promised in a follow-up notice due August 5, 2026 (s.3).
Exemptions and open questions
This notice contains no stated exemptions, carve-outs, or in-transit relief. Because the surtax order and this customs notice predate the detailed application guidance, importers cannot yet confirm which specific goods, if any, fall outside scope. Anyone relying on an exemption should wait for the August 5, 2026 notice rather than assume relief applies.
What importers should do now
Importers must declare affected goods as subject to a safeguard on their Commercial Accounting Declaration (CAD), whether filed through the CARM Client Portal, EDI, or API (s.3). However, the specific safeguard code needed to make that declaration will not be available until August 5, 2026 — five days after the surtax took effect. Importers should hold or flag entries of wood cabinets and vanities imported from July 31 onward and be prepared to amend declarations once the code is published, and budget the 25% surtax into landed costs immediately.
Refund angle
The notice does not address refunds, drawback, or in-transit exceptions — none are mentioned in this text. Given the gap between the July 31 effective date and the August 5 release of the safeguard code, importers who account for goods in that window without the code may need to correct their CAD once it becomes available; whether any adjustment mechanism will be offered is expected to be clarified in the August 5 notice.