NEW: 50% Tariff on Goods of Canada Will Not Apply to Aircraft Parts

The United States government has announced a plan to impose a new tariff on goods of Canada. The new tariffs are authorized under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1338) and will apply a 50% duty to imported goods of Canada based on the value of the import.

TLDR: These new Canadian tariffs will not apply to aircraft parts.

Section 338 is a nearly century-old U.S. trade statute granting the President unilateral authority to impose up to 50% tariffs or completely exclude imports from any foreign country that discriminates against U.S. commerce. The United States has alleged that Canada is discriminating against U.S. alcohol, automobiles and dairy.

The USMCA was specifically supposed to address U.S. concerns over all three of these markets. The USTR published a report addressing the positive effect on automobile trade. Dairy has continued to be a sore subject, with the U.S. winning disputes over the interpretation of the dairy provisions in 2022 and 2023. The US Distilled Spirits Council has complained that “U.S. spirits exports to Canada have plummeted by 85%, dropping below $10 million in the second quarter of 2025, largely due to the majority of Provinces continuing to ban the sale of U.S. spirits.” Many of these bans arose in response to U.S. tariffs and U.S. rhetoric about annexing Canada.

The 50% tariff on Canadian goods is identified under HTSUS 9903.03.14, but that tariff will only apply to a limited set of tariff codes, and most aircraft parts should be outside of the scope of those codes. The language of the note that interprets the new tariff code specifically states that it applies to a list of specific goods “unless they are subject to import restrictions imposed pursuant to section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, [e.g. steel and aluminum] as amended (18 U.S.C. 1862), or articles of civil aircraft or aircraft parts that meet the criteria of General Note 6 of the HTSUS.” If you think that your aircraft parts may be within the scope of the 9903.03.14 list of affected tariff codes, then please contact us.