To our American Customers
We can no longer ship our USMCA/CUSMA-compliant honey, produced and packaged on our Canadian farm, to the U.S. without paying a new 35% tariff on Canadian goods. The reasons are complicated, but are as follows:
Background
As many of our customers know, we are a honey farm located in rural Canada in Northern Alberta. Since 1974, we have packaged the finest honey our bees produce each year and sold it through our website to customers across North America. The only reliable individual package delivery service in Girouxville, AB is Canada Post.
Canadian honey enjoyed duty-free status under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its successor, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA in the U.S.; CUSMA in Canada). Under USMCA/CUSMA, Canadian honey, verified by a Certificate of Origin from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), is exempt from duties when exported to the U.S. For smaller packages (under $800 USD) shipped to individuals, the de minimis exemption of the 1930 Tariff Act also waived duties. The de minimis exemption applied to most low-value packages arriving to the U.S. by mail or courier from almost anywhere.
All this changed on August 29, 2025, when Executive Order 14324 came into force.
Executive Order 14324
Executive Order 14324 invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), imposing a 35% ad valorem duty on all Canadian goods not exempt under USMCA/CUSMA while removing the de minimis exemption. Since August 29, 2025 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) appears to treat all Canadian packages as subject to the 35% tariff unless proven otherwise. Canadian shippers can apply for USMCA/CUSMA duty exemptions at the border, but this can be impractical for small packages, and evidence that this process will be smooth or reliable is lacking.
Executive Order 14324 does not specify the threat, and the duties on Canadian goods appear to lack a legal basis. In May 2025, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that tariffs imposed under IEEPA were unlawful, a decision upheld in August. However, the duties remain in place as the case proceeds to the Supreme Court in November 2025.
Situation
Canada Post lacks the infrastructure to process USMCA/CUSMA duty exemptions, so it uses the Zonos app to collect pre-paid duties on all U.S.-bound packages. Zonos charges the 35% duty, plus a 3.5% processing fee and $1.99 CAD. Although Canadian honey is exempt under USMCA/CUSMA, the duty and fees must still be paid before Canada Post will ship the package.
Certificate of Origin is obtained by applying to the Chamber of Commerce and paying an administrative fee for each certificate that contains the recipient’s address: A new application with must be done for each individual package with the administrative fee paid for each. The added work and expense of obtaining certificates of origin for each low-value shipment is not practical. This works for truckloads but not for individual jars of honey. Even with a Certificate of Origin, uncertainty persists. CBC News reported one Canadian exporter charged with duties ranging from 26.4% to 186% on identical $250-value USMCA/CUSMA-compliant shipments to his U.S. customers via UPS.
Refunds for inappropriate duties on exempt goods are theoretically possible but are not feasible for small shipments of honey due to the Certificate of Origin requirement.
So Now What?
We have suspended shipments to U.S. addresses due to this unfortunate situation. Our honey was already expensive for American customers due to small-volume, fresh-during-harvest packaging and high shipping costs for heavy packages, even before this new duty. We’re grateful that our loyal customers value our unique honey, but we can’t imagine anyone paying an additional 40% beyond our current prices.
Since March 2025, we’ve noticed increased delays for packages at the U.S. border, with some orders taking 3–4 weeks instead of the usual 1 to 2 weeks. Unfortunately, we cannot resolve these delays. We haven’t shipped to the U.S. since August 29, and while paying the tariff should ensure smooth customs clearance, we cannot guarantee this.
We hope this situation resolves quickly, ideally before the Supreme Court hearing in November. Depending on the results of this hearing will be the deciding factor if our U.S. customers will be able to resume receiving our water white honey.
Thank you for your understanding while we get this sorted out.