Key takeaways
- "Not renewed" is not the same as "ended." On July 1, 2026 the US declined to renew CUSMA in its current form. The agreement is still in effect — reported as continuing through 2036 — and now moves into a cycle of annual reviews instead of a single long extension. Nothing expired overnight.
- CUSMA preferential treatment still applies to goods that qualify under the rules of origin. That's the part that matters most for a small cross-border business: whether your product counts as North American–origin still decides whether it crosses tariff-free.
- The real change is uncertainty, not termination. Existing tariffs on items like steel, aluminum, autos, and softwood lumber remain, and additional measures on non-qualifying Canadian goods have reportedly been proposed. Annual reviews mean the terms can shift year to year.
- Proving your goods are Canadian just got more important. And you can only certify origin and clear customs cleanly if you're set up as a real, documented Canadian business — a Business Number, the right CRA and CBSA accounts, and one consistent Canadian commercial address behind all of it.
What changed: the US declined to renew CUSMA — is it still in effect?
Short answer first, because it's the question everyone is actually searching: yes, CUSMA is still in effect in 2026. What happened on July 1 is narrower than the headlines suggest.
CUSMA — the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement, known in the US as the USMCA — came with a built-in six-year joint review. That review landed on July 1, 2026. On that date, the US Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, said the US would not agree to renew the agreement in its current form, citing shortcomings it wants addressed (reported by CBC and BNN Bloomberg, July 1, 2026).
Here's the nuance that most of the coverage blurs, and that you should hold onto before making any decision:
- Declining to renew ≠ terminating. Renewal would have extended the agreement's full term by another long stretch. Declining it doesn't cancel the deal — it moves CUSMA into a schedule of annual reviews, where the three countries revisit it each year rather than confirming one long extension.
- The agreement remains in force, reported as continuing through 2036. Preferential tariff treatment under CUSMA keeps applying to qualifying goods in the meantime.
- Actually leaving CUSMA is a separate, slower act. Withdrawal requires six months' written notice — it is not something that happens by missing a renewal date.
So if you read a post declaring CUSMA "dead," "expired," or "over," it's wrong on the mechanics. The accurate framing is: not renewed in its current form, now under annual review, still in effect.
Two things sit alongside this that a cross-border founder should track. First, the tariffs already imposed over the past period — on items such as steel, aluminum, autos, and softwood lumber — don't disappear because of this review; they remain a live cost. Second, US officials have reportedly signalled additional tariff measures aimed at Canadian goods that don't qualify as CUSMA-origin, with a public process said to begin in early July 2026. Treat that second item as proposed, not settled — confirm the current status against primary trade sources before you act on it, because the specifics are exactly the kind of detail that changes week to week.
Who this affects
The policy story is macro. The practical question is who actually has to do something differently. The answer is narrower than "everyone who trades with the US," and it sorts cleanly by whether you move goods or services.
- Canadian small businesses and solopreneurs exporting physical goods to the US. This is the group most directly exposed. Whether your product qualifies as CUSMA-origin is now the difference between tariff-free entry and paying duty — plus any additional measures on non-qualifying goods.
- Cross-border e-commerce sellers — Shopify, Amazon, Etsy operators shipping into the US, or into Canada from abroad. Origin and customs paperwork sit underneath every parcel, whether or not the platform makes that visible.
- US-based founders sourcing from or selling into Canada, including a Canadian resident who owns a US LLC. If your supply chain crosses the border in either direction, the review touches your landed cost and your paperwork.
- Non-resident importers bringing goods into Canada as the importer of record — the review adds a layer of tariff uncertainty on top of an already paperwork-heavy setup.
If you sell services across the border rather than goods, rules of origin largely don't apply to you, and this review changes far less about your day-to-day. You're affected by the broader climate of uncertainty, not by the customs mechanics. Knowing which side of that line you're on is the first useful thing to figure out.
What it means — and what to do now
The unhelpful advice right now is "watch the negotiations." You can't act on a negotiation. What you can do is make your own business resilient to whatever the annual reviews produce. The single thread running through all of it: being able to prove your goods are Canadian, and being a clean, documented Canadian business when you do.
1. Find out whether your goods qualify as CUSMA-origin
This is the highest-leverage thing to know, and many small exporters have never checked it precisely. CUSMA's rules of origin decide whether a specific product qualifies for tariff-free treatment — and the answer depends on where materials come from and how much value is added in North America, not on where your company is headquartered. A product assembled in Toronto from largely overseas components may or may not qualify. Get this determined for your actual goods, product by product, rather than assuming.
Why it matters more now: if your goods qualify, CUSMA treatment still protects you. If they don't, they face standard duties plus any of the additional measures aimed at non-qualifying Canadian goods. The gap between "qualifies" and "doesn't" is wider than it was.
2. Keep your origin documentation clean
Under CUSMA, tariff-free treatment isn't automatic — it's claimed, and it has to be supported by a certification of origin if asked. As border scrutiny tightens under annual reviews, the businesses that move fastest are the ones whose origin records are already in order: bills of materials, supplier declarations, and the certification behind each claim. This is unglamorous filing work, and it's precisely where a disorganized small business gets caught when a shipment is questioned.
3. Get your Canadian business identity fully set up
You can't certify origin as a Canadian exporter, or clear customs as a Canadian importer, unless you are a properly registered Canadian business on paper. In practice that means a Business Number with the CRA, an RM import-export program account, GST/HST registration where it applies, and — for anyone bringing goods in — a business account in the CBSA's CARM system. We walk through exactly which address goes on each of those customs and CRA records in the import-export business address guide, and cover the Business Number basics in do Canadian small businesses need a Business Number?.
For cross-border founders the setup doubles up. A Canadian resident who owns a US LLC is running two registration problems at once — and the CRA and IRS classify the same entity differently, which changes what you file and where. We unpack that in US LLC owned by a Canadian resident: which address goes where. A foreign business selling into Canada may also need to register for GST/HST as a non-resident — a distinct procedure with its own address and security-deposit rules, covered in non-resident GST/HST registration.
4. Don't make irreversible moves on rumour
Annual reviews and reportedly-proposed tariffs generate a lot of noise. Reincorporating, relocating a supply chain, or restructuring an entity is expensive and slow to undo. The measured play is to get your documentation and registrations tight now — which helps regardless of how the reviews land — and hold structural decisions until specifics are confirmed against primary sources, not headlines.
The setup angle: proving you're a Canadian business
Every one of the actions above quietly depends on the same thing: a real, consistent Canadian commercial address behind your registrations. When proving Canadian origin and clearing customs as a Canadian business becomes the whole game, the address on your records stops being an afterthought.
Here's where it bites. Your Business Number, your RM import-export account, your GST/HST registration, and your CARM business account all carry an address — and the customs and tax systems cross-check them. When they all show the same Canadian street address, a release decision or a verification letter reaches you predictably. When they diverge — a home address on one, an old address on another, a PO Box somewhere — correspondence about a held shipment can land at an address nobody is watching while the goods sit at the port accruing charges.
Two defaults cause trouble:
- A home address becomes a public record the moment you register a business name, propagates onto your customs and tax files, and puts your residence on documents tied to cross-border shipments.
- A PO Box gets rejected outright by the CRA and by customs systems, because they require a genuine street address, not a box number.
What passes both is a commercial street address in proper Canada Post Unit/# format, documented in your business name, used identically across every record. That's the layer Auteur is built to cover: a real Toronto or Vancouver business address you can put on the Business Number, the RM account, the GST/HST registration, and the CARM portal at once — Vancouver being Canada's largest port and Toronto its largest air-cargo hub and consumer market. If you're tightening up your setup ahead of the annual-review era, reserve a Toronto or Vancouver address and anchor every customs and CRA record to the same Canadian street address from the start.
FAQ
Is CUSMA still in effect in 2026? Yes. On July 1, 2026 the US declined to renew CUSMA in its current form, but declining renewal does not terminate the agreement. CUSMA remains in force — reported as continuing through 2036 — and moves into a cycle of annual reviews rather than one long extension. Actually withdrawing from the agreement would require six months' written notice, which is a separate step that has not been taken.
Does CUSMA still give tariff-free access to the US? For goods that qualify under CUSMA's rules of origin, preferential (tariff-free) treatment still applies. The catch is that qualification depends on where materials come from and how much value is added in North America — it isn't automatic just because your business is Canadian. Goods that don't qualify face standard duties and, reportedly, potential additional measures. This is why confirming your specific products' origin status is now the most useful thing an exporter can do.
What should a small Canadian business do now that CUSMA wasn't renewed? Focus on what you control. Determine whether your goods qualify as CUSMA-origin, keep your certification-of-origin documentation clean, and make sure you're a fully registered Canadian business — Business Number, RM import-export account, GST/HST where applicable, and a consistent Canadian commercial address across all of them. Hold expensive structural decisions until specific tariff changes are confirmed against primary sources rather than reacting to headlines.
Bottom line
CUSMA wasn't renewed in its current form on July 1, 2026 — but it wasn't ended, either. It's still in effect, now under annual review through 2036, with any real exit requiring six months' notice. For a small cross-border business, the practical shift isn't a cliff; it's a heightened need to prove your goods are Canadian and to be a clean, documented Canadian business when you do.
That documentation rests on one unglamorous foundation: a real Canadian commercial address, consistent across your Business Number, your customs accounts, and your tax file. Get that right and you're ready for whatever the reviews produce. If you're setting up or tightening your cross-border operation, reserve a Toronto or Vancouver address and put one Canadian street address on every record from day one.
This brief is general information for founders, not legal, tax, or trade advice. Trade policy in this area is moving quickly — confirm the current status of CUSMA, tariffs, and any origin requirements with the relevant government sources and a qualified professional before making decisions.
Sources: The Office of the US Trade Representative statement (July 1, 2026) that the US "did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form," as reported by CBC and BNN Bloomberg (July 1, 2026); additional context via The Hub (July 1, 2026). Details on annual reviews, the 2036 term, and the six-month withdrawal notice draw on that reporting and the CUSMA treaty text (Chapter 34); the proposed additional tariff measures remain a proposal and should be reconfirmed against primary trade sources, which are updating frequently.
