The finding
One sentence, then the evidence.
Most coverage of Canada's counter-tariffs has described targeted sectors -
appliances, personal care, electronics, furniture. The Department of Finance did not
publish sectors. It published a list of 893 specific tariff items, and
that list is materially narrower than the sector language implies.
We read the list at the tariff-item level and checked thirty-one consumer categories
against it. Nine of the first sixteen categories changed once the actual
items were read, and four of them turned out not to be on the list at all. The reporting
was not careless - it described the announcement accurately. The announcement and the
schedule simply do not line up, and nobody has been checking the schedule.
What follows is eight findings, each one a tariff item number you can verify in about a
minute against the government's own page.
Eight things the list does not say
Every row carries its tariff item. A red badge means the item is on the list at that rate;
a green badge means the item does not appear on the list at all.
Personal care
Toothpaste, soap, deodorant and moisturizer are not tariffed. Makeup is, at 50%.
Personal care was named as a targeted sector and reported that way widely. The list
reaches almost none of it. Chapter 34, which contains soap in its entirety, is
untouched. So are toothpaste and deodorant. What the list does take is
cosmetics proper - item 3304.10.00, at the top band.
Personal care
| Toothpaste and oral care | 3306 | not on list |
| Soap and body wash | Chapter 34 | not on list |
| Deodorant | 3307 | not on list |
| Skincare and moisturizers | 3304.91 / .99 | not on list |
| Makeup and cosmetics | 3304.10.00 | 50% |
Appliances
Buying a dishwasher is unaffected. Repairing one is not.
The cleanest illustration of the gap. Complete household dishwashers - item 8422.11 -
are absent from the list. Dishwasher parts are on it at 25%, including the
door assembly and the water containment chamber as named lines. A US-built
replacement door gets more expensive; the machine it belongs to does not.
Dishwashers
| Dishwashers, complete household | 8422.11 | not on list |
| Dishwasher door assemblies | 8422.90.20 | 25% |
| Water containment chambers | 8422.90.10 | 25% |
Home
Furniture is tariffed. The mattress sold beside it is not.
Furniture appears on the list prominently and at rates up to 50%. Mattresses, duvets,
pillows and quilts sit in heading 9404 - a different heading, and one the list never
reaches. Same store, same delivery truck, opposite answer.
Mattresses and furniture
| Mattresses, duvets, pillows | 9404 | not on list |
| Furniture, sofas and chairs | 9401 / 9403 | 25-50% |
Electronics
A television is not on the list. The monitor beside it is, at 50%.
The distinguishing feature is a tuner. Reception apparatus - a television - sits at
8528.72 and is absent. A monitor without a tuner falls to 8528.59.90 and carries the
top band. Two panels of the same size and the same panel supplier can differ by 50%
on the strength of a component most buyers never use.
Screens
| Televisions | 8528.72 | not on list |
| Monitors, no tuner | 8528.59.90 | 50% |
| Laptops and computers | 8471 | not on list |
| Smartphones | 8517.13.00 | 50% |
Building materials
Plywood is tariffed at 50%. The OSB stacked next to it is not tariffed at all.
Plywood was taken comprehensively - all thirteen tariff items in heading 4412, at the
top band, including laminated veneer lumber and blockboard. Oriented strand board is a
different heading, 4410, and the list does not touch it. Nor does it touch fibreboard
or MDF at 4411. For sheathing and subfloor these are direct substitutes sold in the
same aisle.
Sheet goods and lumber
| Plywood, LVL, blockboard | 4412 (13 items) | 50% |
| OSB and particle board | 4410 | not on list |
| MDF and fibreboard | 4411 | not on list |
| Softwood lumber (S-P-F, pine, fir) | 4407.11-.19 | 25% |
Building materials
The same window, in four materials, gets three different answers.
A window's tariff treatment is decided by what its frame is made of, not by what it
is. Steel and aluminium frames are at the top band. Wood and vinyl frames are absent
from the list entirely. The glass inside all four is absent too - neither float glass
nor safety glass appears anywhere on it.
Doors and windows
| Steel doors, windows and frames | 7308.30.00 | 50% |
| Aluminium doors, windows and frames | 7610.10.00 | 50% |
| Wooden doors and windows, incl. prehung | 4418.11-.29 | not on list |
| Vinyl doors, windows and shutters | 3925.20 / .30 | not on list |
| Float and safety glass | 7005 / 7007 | not on list |
Hardware
The deadbolt carries no surtax. The screws in its strike plate carry 50%.
Heading 83.01 - padlocks and locks of every kind, including the line whose own
breakouts are dead bolt locks and locksets, plus keys sold
separately - is absent in its entirety. Fasteners sit two chapters away in the iron
and steel chapter, which was taken close to whole. Hinges, in chapter 83, are 25%.
One assembly, three answers.
Locks and fasteners
| Locks, deadbolts, padlocks, keys | 8301 | not on list |
| Screws, bolts, nuts, washers | 7318 (12 items) | 50% |
| Nails, tacks and staples | 7317.00.00 | 50% |
| Hinges, every kind | 8302.10.00 | 25% |
Recreation
Bicycles and toys are absent. Motorcycles and game consoles are at 50%.
Two more cases where a category people assume is covered is not, and its close
neighbour is. Bicycles and bicycle parts do not appear. Neither does heading 9503 -
the toy heading, covering ride-on toys, dolls and puzzles. Video game consoles, one
heading over at 9504.50.00, are at the top band.
Bikes, toys and consoles
| Bicycles and parts | 8712 / 8714 | not on list |
| Toys, dolls, puzzles, ride-ons | 9503 | not on list |
| Motorcycles over 800cc | 8711.50.00 | 50% |
| Video game consoles | 9504.50.00 | 50% |
Why the gap exists
Not a drafting error. A structural mismatch between how the measure was announced and how
it operates.
A counter-tariff is applied by customs officers at a border, and customs officers do not
classify goods by sector. They classify by tariff item - an eight- or ten-digit code from
the Customs Tariff schedule. So the operative instrument has to be a list of codes, and
someone has to decide which codes go on it.
The result is that the tariff follows the classification, not the product.
That is why a hinge and the screws packed in the same bag are surtaxed at different rates:
they are classified two chapters apart. It is why the tuner decides the television. It is
why the frame material decides the window. None of these distinctions are visible on a
shelf, and none of them were in the announcement.
The consequence for coverage is straightforward.
Sector-level reporting will systematically over-state what is covered,
because the sector name is broader than the codes taken under it. Anyone writing "your
toothpaste is about to cost more" is repeating the announcement, not the schedule.
How to verify any of this
All of it is checkable from primary sources in a few minutes. Please do check it.
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Open the Department of Finance page, Complete list of U.S. products subject to
counter tariffs, on canada.ca. This is the operative list and the only authority
used here.
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Search it for the tariff item numbers in the tables above. A number that does not
return a hit is not on the list - that is the entire basis of every "not on list"
claim in this brief.
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For the wording of an item that is absent, the Finance list will not help,
because it carries heading text only for items it includes. Use the CBSA Customs Tariff
schedule instead, at
cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/01-99/chNN-2026-eng.pdf,
substituting the chapter number. Every absence above was confirmed against that
schedule rather than assumed.
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Rates are read from the Finance list directly. The three bands in force are 15%, 25%
and 50%.
Caveats we would want in print
Three limits on what any of this means.
This is a snapshot of a list that can change. The measures take effect 8 September
2026, the list can be amended before then, and remission orders commonly follow. Every
claim here is as of 26 August 2026 and should be re-checked against the live page before
publication.
Not being on the list is not the same as not getting more expensive. These are
Canadian counter-tariffs on US-origin goods only. A product can rise in price for currency,
freight, US tariffs in the other direction, or ordinary supplier behaviour. The claim here
is narrow and specific: these items do not carry this surtax.
Origin is a property of the item, not the brand. A US brand is frequently not a
US-origin good - much of what is sold here under American names is built in Mexico, Korea
or China and is outside these measures entirely. Any story that treats brand nationality as
a proxy for tariff exposure will get individual products wrong.