CBP has finally put precise numbers on the Section 338 changes we flagged in our Oct. 28 coverage. Late Thursday, the agency issued CSMS #70314289, spelling out the exact HTSUS codes behind the Oct. 23 proclamation that reshuffles which Canadian goods owe the 50% Section 338 duty — 22 classifications come off, 100 go on, effective 12:01 a.m. Eastern today, Oct. 30. Buried in the same notice: CBP confirms, in writing, that these duties are eligible for drawback.
Why it matters
If your business imports anything that touches Section 338, today is the day your classification team needs the actual tariff schedule open — not a product-category summary from a fact sheet. CBP's guidance gives the precise HTSUS numbers now excluded from, or added to, heading 9903.03.14, and the difference between owing 50% on a shipment and owing nothing can come down to a single line of that schedule. The duty is assessed by entry date, not ship date: a container already on the water when the new scope took effect still owes the new rate if it's entered, or withdrawn from a bonded warehouse, for consumption today or later. As with the rest of Section 338, it stacks on top of other tariffs — Section 232 chief among them — rather than replacing them, and applies regardless of USMCA eligibility.
The drawback confirmation matters just as much, if less visibly. Until this notice, nobody — not CBP, not the trade press, not this publication — had stated outright that Section 338 duties qualify for drawback. If your business re-exports or destroys merchandise that's paid this duty, that's money worth tracking down, not writing off.
The details
CSMS #70314289 traces back to Proclamation 11048, the original July 20, 2026 order that put a 50% ad valorem duty on a range of Canadian goods; after a brief suspension, those duties took effect Aug. 22 (CBP CSMS #70314289). A Sept. 8 proclamation made the first scope revision, effective Sept. 15. The Oct. 23 proclamation — titled "Further Modifying the Scope of Products of Canada Subject to the Additional Duties Imposed To Offset Canadian Discrimination Against the Commerce of the United States With Respect to Motor Vehicles" — is the second revision, and this CSMS is the first time CBP has translated it into an actual line-by-line tariff schedule, rather than the fact sheet's product descriptions we worked from in our Oct. 28 coverage (White House).
Twenty-two HTSUS classifications come off the 50% list entirely as of today: plywood and other wood-panel products (the 4412.33 and 4412.34 series), plastic film, sheeting, bags and boxes (3920.20.00, 3923.10.90, 3923.21.00), coated paper, paperboard, corrugated boxes and paper-pulp articles (4811.51, 4819.10, 4819.40, 4823.70, 4823.90), certain refrigeration, packing and agricultural-produce machinery (8418.69.01, 8419.89.95, 8422.30.91, 8422.40.91, 8433.60.00), and one animal-hair classification, 1212.21.00 (CBP CSMS #70314289). An independent review of the same proclamation by BDO's trade practice counted the same totals — 22 removed, 100 added — and flagged similar additions, including chest-type freezers and power tools (BDO).
A hundred more classifications join heading 9903.03.14 starting today. CBP's own attachment lists every one; trade advisors reviewing the same list describe the additions as spanning paints, coatings, soaps, lubricants and waxes (Chapters 32–34), certain reagents, plastics and waste products (Chapters 38–39), wood panels, crates and additional paper goods (Chapters 44 and 48), carpets and other floor coverings, and goods like air conditioners, power tools and valves (BDO). Headings 9903.03.12 and 9903.03.13 are untouched, and the 0% carve-outs under 9903.03.15 (steel, aluminum and derivative articles; passenger and commercial vehicles and their parts; wood products; semiconductors; and patented pharmaceuticals) and 9903.03.16 (civil aircraft) still stand (CBP CSMS #70314289).
THE OCT. 30 SECTION 338 UPDATE, AT A GLANCE
22 codes come off, 100 go on. Heading 9903.03.14 drops 22 HTSUS classifications and gains 100 more, effective 12:01 a.m. ET today — CBP's attachment spells out every line.
Entry date decides, not ship date. A shipment already in transit when the new scope takes effect still follows the new list if it's entered, or withdrawn from a bonded warehouse, for consumption today or later.
FTZ goods need "privileged foreign status." Covered merchandise admitted into a U.S. foreign-trade zone can only enter as privileged foreign status under 19 C.F.R. 146.41, with duty assessed at the rate in effect when it's withdrawn for consumption.
Drawback is now confirmed, in writing. CBP states plainly that duties collected under headings 9903.03.12 through 9903.03.14 are eligible for drawback — the clearest signal yet that this money is recoverable.
What to do about it
Pull CBP's actual attachment, not a summary. Run your Canadian-origin SKUs against the full HTSUS list CBP attached to CSMS #70314289 line by line — a category description like "certain plastics" isn't precise enough to reclassify against.
Don't assume a product coming off the list means a refund on past entries. This change applies to entries from today forward; it doesn't reopen duties already paid and liquidated at the old rate.
Check your Chapter 98 claims. The duty doesn't apply to goods properly entered under most Chapter 98 provisions — but repairs, alterations, and assembled-abroad goods under subheadings 9802.00.40, .50, .60 and heading 9802.00.80 still owe the duty on the value added abroad.
Confirm your foreign-trade-zone status before the next withdrawal. Goods admitted under "domestic status" are unaffected; anything else needs a "privileged foreign status" designation.
Start building a drawback file for Section 338 duties you've paid. If you re-export or destroy covered merchandise, this is the first written confirmation that the duty is recoverable — worth a conversation with whoever files your claims.
Route entry-filing questions to CBP's Trade Remedy Branch ([email protected]), not a broker's best guess — CBP named that inbox specifically for Section 338 filing questions.
Keep an eye on
CBP's attached list runs well beyond the handful of examples above — if your catalog touches dozens of HTS lines, it's worth a full pass rather than spot-checking the categories named here. Longer term, the bigger question is still Gellert Global Group Corp. v. Trump, the Court of International Trade suit arguing the administration never had authority to use Section 338 this way in the first place; no briefing schedule has been set. If that case eventually unwinds the program, today's code-level detail won't matter much — but until then, this is the list that counts, and for the first time, it's the actual list, not a category summary.
Got questions? Drop a comment below. Ask our licensed customs brokers, and they'll get right back to you here in the comments.
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