August 29/25 tariff change

[mar_685805]

I'm still not clear about the tarrif change starting Aug. 29/25

What does it mean for a Canadian-made arts&crafts seller?

Selling small handcrafted items under $100.

Are there exemptions if materials used are purchased in North America?

I'd appreciate any  helpful info and suggestions, to sort out the confusion.

Thanks.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

Nobody knows any of the answers to this yet.

There are 4-5 different threads on the front page from the last few weeks where people have discussed and asked a lot of the same questions. Reading through those threads won't give you a direct answer to your question, but it will provide you with the best info on what is happening. There is a lot of helpful information that has been posted throughout those threads, and it would only take you a half hour to get caught up on them. 

A term you may want to look into is CUSMA (Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement), whether your items fall under that category of goods along with what the tariff rates will be for goods that qualify, but I haven't seen a concrete answer on that either. If you use materials that are imported from different countries to make your crafts, you also might want to consider whether your items satisfy the rules of substantial transformation: https://www.trade.gov/rules-origin-substantial-transformation

I can't tell you what is right for your business, but I can give you some insight into what I plan to do. I plan to pause US shipping a few days before the changes until I get a better grasp on what my obligations will be as the person shipping the item, and what delivery duties paid services are available to me. Both for shipping the item, and for calculating and charging the duties at the point of sale. 

[phc64]

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@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:

I plan to pause US shipping a few days before the changes until I get a better grasp on what my obligations will be as the person shipping the item, and what delivery duties paid services are available to me.

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That is exactly what I am planning to do.

Much of the US President's executive orders establishing the tariffs and revoking the de minimus exemption is open to interpretation. The same is true for the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the US administration claims permits the president to establish the tariffs without the consent of congress, even though the IEEPA does not even mention tariffs. (This issue is currently before the US Supreme Court.) Essentially, the administration can interpret the IEEPA and the executive orders any way it wants until the courts rule otherwise. Because nobody really knows what is going to happen starting August 29, I intend to stop accepting orders from the US until there is greater clarity.

[naturelover55]

It's bizzarre that the United States sprang this on one of their closet allies with so little time for preperation. It's really not fair for all of the businesses in Canada who rely on the postal system. It shows a lack of professionalism IMHO.