On Aug. 22, new U.S. Section 338 tariffs of up to 50% took effect on a wide range of Canadian goods. Three days later, Canada announced it would match those tariffs dollar for dollar on U.S.-origin goods, effective Sept. 8.
For home furnishings brands shipping into Canada, that translates directly into higher landed costs — for example, a $40 item facing a 50% tariff adds $20 in duties on that single unit.
But there’s a bigger story, according to Mark Walker, partnerships director at ShipStation Global, an intelligent logistics and shipping platform. This is part of a broader pattern of fast-moving, reciprocal trade actions. Companies that treat tariff exposure as a one-time check rather than an ongoing operational discipline are the ones most likely to be caught off guard.
We asked him more about what these tariffs mean, how companies can manage rising costs and more.
Casual News Now: Are there any protections companies have historically relied on that no longer apply?
Mark Walker: Yes, and it’s one of the more surprising parts of this round. In past tariff actions, goods qualifying for preferential treatment under CUSMA (the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement) were often exempt. That’s not the case here — Canada’s counter-tariffs apply regardless of CUSMA eligibility.
Canada’s de minimis threshold doesn’t help either: The $150 CAD duty-free level applies to shipment value, not tariff classification, so even low-value parcels are subject to the new rates. Shippers should not assume past exemptions carry over. We recommend they verify every affected category against the current list before they ship.
CNN: How can companies actually manage or reduce rising shipping and duty costs?
MW: A lot of this comes down to the Delivery Duty Paid versus Delivery Duty Unpaid decision. Under DDP, the seller collects duties at checkout, so the customer’s package arrives with no surprise fees. Under DDU, the carrier collects from the customer at delivery, which in a high-tariff environment, often leads to refused packages or return requests, adding real cost beyond the duty itself.
Sometimes the carriers will try to call or email to collect, which can be missed. Other carriers may try collecting on the literal doorstep, which causes its own problems of missed deliveries. In addition, the customer will sometimes have to also pay admin fees on top of the actual duties and taxes. Essentially, DDU is a bad experience.
Tools like ShipStation’s Guaranteed Prepaid Duties and Taxes feature calculate and pay duties and taxes at the moment a label is created, and the amount shown at that point is final, even if tariffs change before the package is delivered. That kind of predictability is often what companies and customers value most when costs are moving quickly.
CNN: Should companies pause or pull back from selling into affected markets, like Canada?
MW: We believe this is a decision to make deliberately and strategically. Sellers facing new duties generally have four options: Absorb the additional cost, pass it through to customers, adjust pricing in the affected market to reflect the new landed-cost baseline, or temporarily pause sales of the specific products impacted while they work through the numbers.
The right call depends on margins, sales volume in that market, and how price-sensitive that customer segment is. The key is making the decision ahead of time, not discovering it midorder when a customer refuses a package at the door.
CNN: What should companies do in the next few weeks to get ahead of this?
Some concrete steps we recommend for ShipStation customers:
– Audit Canada-bound products against the official tariff list, checking actual HS codes rather than relying on category names alone.
– Verify Country of Origin is set correctly for each product, since it isn’t necessarily where the item was shipped from.
– Document any shipments currently in transit, since goods already physically moving to Canada when the tariffs take effect are exempt, but goods sitting in a warehouse are not.
– Revisit duty collection approach, moving from DDU to DDP where it makes sense for newly higher-duty categories.
– Update pricing or storefront visibility for affected listings before the effective date, rather than reacting to it afterward.
CNN: Is this a one-off, or should companies expect more volatility in the future?
MW: Trade policy in this area has been moving quickly, and this pattern of tariff and counter-tariff activity reflects a broader, evolving trade environment rather than an isolated event. Our recommendation is that sellers build tariff and HS code review into a recurring operational habit, not a one-time drill, and use shipping tools that surface accurate landed cost and customs data at the point of label creation, so surprises don’t happen after the sale is already made.
