Canadian Whey and Packaged Alcohol Are Banned from the US on September 29: What the Next Fourteen Days Decide
This post reflects the rules as published on September 15, 2026. The classification lists have moved twice this month already and may move again. It’s general information, not customs advice.
For the past year, the Canada-US trade fight has been an argument about price. Tariffs went on, landed costs went up, and shippers either absorbed the difference or passed it along. On September 29 that changes for a specific list of goods, because they stop being expensive and start being prohibited.
On September 8 the White House issued five proclamations under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, an old law that lets a president put duties of up to 50% on a trading partner’s goods and then, if the dispute continues, refuse them entry altogether. Three of those proclamations do the second thing. From 12:01 a.m. Eastern on September 29, Canadian whey in every form, whether fluid, dried, concentrate or modified, cannot be imported into the United States. Neither can molasses, non-alcoholic beer, or packaged beer, wine, cider, sake and spirits.
That’s a different problem from the one everybody’s been managing all year. Up to now a tariff has been something to price, argue over, and decide who absorbs. There’s no equivalent move when the product isn’t allowed in at all.
The List Moved Today, in Both Directions
Separately from the bans, US Customs and Border Protection issued guidance adding 122 tariff classifications to the existing 50% duty as of today, September 15. Cheese is the headline, with cheddar, Swiss, Emmental, Gruyère, Romano, Parmesan, provolone, blue-veined, Edam and Gouda all named.
Some classifications came off the list on the same date, among them rock salt, cement, and whiskies in containers over four litres. That two-way movement is the part worth noticing. A classification someone checked in August may not sit where they left it. The 0% carve-out narrowed on the same date too, so an exclusion that applied last month may not apply now.
Two other things changed that a lot of cross-border conversations still get wrong. USMCA/CUSMA origin does not exempt goods from any of this. Section 338 is much older law and sits outside the agreement, so qualifying under USMCA/CUSMA isn’t the protection people assume it is. And the Section 338 duties now stack on top of the Section 232 duties, reversing the position taken in July.
If none of your freight appears on any of these lists, you’re still crossing the same border as everyone whose paperwork just got harder.
Fourteen Days, and What They’re Worth
The proclamations do leave one way through. Covered goods that have been imported but not yet entered for consumption, or withdrawn from a warehouse for consumption, before 12:01 a.m. on September 29 stay on the 50% duty rather than being turned away.
That’s worth reading twice, because the operative date isn’t the day the freight ships. It’s the day the entry is filed. There are wrinkles underneath that, including how product already sitting in a US bonded warehouse or a foreign trade zone gets treated, and those are worth putting to your broker rather than assuming. The short version is that goods which have been in the country for months can still be caught by this.
Questions Worth Raising This Week
The bans are written against tariff classifications, not companies, so the useful way through this is by commodity rather than by customer.
It’s worth confirming with your customs broker exactly which of your classifications joined the September 15 list, which fall under the September 29 ban, and which moved off. A carrier who offers to make it for you is doing you no favours.
For alcohol, the packaged-versus-bulk distinction is worth checking early. The ban reaches bottles, cans, boxes and kegs; tanker movements for US bottling or blending sit outside it and stay at 50%. That’s a different equipment conversation, and it’s a short one to have this week and a long one to have on September 26.
It’s also worth asking what your carrier can actually evidence. Canada’s own surtax took effect September 8, and its in-transit exemption means the importer has to prove the goods were already moving, with a bill of lading, report of entry or cargo control document. The same will matter southbound. A continuous temperature record, and transit paperwork that survives a customs question, are worth more this month than they were last month, and both are fair things to ask a carrier to show you before you book.
“Successfully meeting hard deadlines when moving freight comes down to planning. In my opinion, the sooner you can itemize your shipments against the regulations, the easier every decision after that becomes. Equipment, routing, sequencing, all of it gets simpler once you know exactly what’s affected.” ~ Aldo DeCarolis , Founder and CEO, Vitesse Transport
Before September 29
If any of your products contain these ingredients, or you sell the finished goods themselves, the next two days are the ones that matter. Whey in particular turns up in plenty of products nobody files under dairy, from protein bars to baked goods. Two days is enough to pull your classifications, find out which side of September 29 they fall on, and put a game plan together while there’s still room to act rather than react.
And if you need to move Canadian dairy, whey or packaged alcohol south against that date, please reach out.
