US Duties, Tariffs and CUSMA

CUSMA (the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, called USMCA in the US) is the free trade agreement that lets goods made in Canada enter the USA without duty. Much of what Grin sells is designed and made here in Vancouver and qualifies, and we file the CUSMA paperwork for it with our US shipments. This page explains what US customers actually pay when ordering from us, and why CUSMA doesn't always mean duty-free right now.

US Duties Right Now (September 2026)

Every shipment into the United States now goes through customs, whatever its value. DHL clears it for you and bills you directly after delivery: a flat $18 USD brokerage fee, plus any duty US customs decides to charge.

Duty can be charged on any order, including on Canadian-made goods. We file a CUSMA certificate of origin for everything we make in Canada, but that has not stopped US customs from charging a 25% duty on our LiGo 10X batteries. In addition, 15% import duties may apply depending on the origin of the goods. Most of our other products have recently arrived without duty, but US tariff rules have changed many times this year and can change without notice.

What to Expect

If you place an order including mostly non-CUSMA goods, expect to pay the $18 brokerage fee plus 15% of the value of those items. For a Nine Continent motor kit, there would be a duty bill from DHL on the value of the motor, the battery, and the charger, while the controller and torque arm components of the order (which are CUSMA compliant) have recently arrived duty free.

If you buy a full All-Axle kit (CUSMA compliant) with a downtube battery (non CUSMA), then the box containing the motor and kit has recently been arriving without any duties to pay. But the separate dangerous goods box containing the battery will have its own brokerage fee and may be subject to 15% duty, as the downtube (and bottle) batteries are all assembled in China.

If you get an All-Axle kit with our LiGo 10X batteries, the motor, controller, and batteries are all made in Canada. Even so, as of September 2026 US customs is charging a 25% duty on the LiGo batteries, while the rest of the kit has recently arrived duty free. We don't believe this duty is consistent with CUSMA. As with the IEEPA tariffs, these duties could be reversed, but nobody knows what the future will bring, so keep your DHL duty invoice.

Checkout Notification

We have created a "shipping notification" window that shows up on the checkout page so that the duty bill will not be a surprise. Once you enter a US shipping address, it lists which items in your cart are likely to have duty and which are CUSMA compliant.

If for some reason you do not see this window, please contact us with a screen capture and details of your browser and shipping location, so that our web-dev team can investigate why it might not have shown up.

Why No USPS / Canada Post

Historically the least expensive shipping option for small packages to the USA was via the Post. Unfortunately, the US postal system has not been able to process CUSMA paperwork, so everything shipped with Canada Post / USPS would be charged duty, even goods that qualify for CUSMA. As a result we have removed postal shipping as an option for the USA for now. Our shipping page has the carriers and delivery times we use instead.

What You Need to Know as the Importer

The responsibility to request CUSMA preferential treatment technically falls on the importer (that’s you!), but we’ve simplified the process by taking care of the critical documentation, including preparing and submitting the Certificate of Origin.

• The Certificate of Origin is the key document that qualifies your shipment for duty-free treatment under CUSMA.
• We handle all required fields and submit the necessary documents at the time of shipping, directly through the courier’s platform whenever possible.
• In most cases, no action is required on your end.

Kinks in the System

Unfortunately, the assessment of duties is done by separate brokers who work for couriers and isn't something Grin has control over. We do our best to ensure they have the required documentation to assess duties correctly, but the broker's goal is to clear packages as quickly as possible and they can overlook or ignore CUSMA eligibility during the process. Regardless of us doing all the paperwork correctly, there are always some shipments that should be duty free under CUSMA and are incorrectly charged duty. This can generally be reversed but it is a process that takes time and your patience is appreciated as we work through the paperwork.

If the Customs Broker Gets It Wrong

If you notice incorrect duties or charges on Canadian-made items:

• Reach out to us and we’ll assist in resolving the issue.
• Alternatively, you can contact the courier’s brokerage team directly to request a detailed breakdown of the charges and ask for a duty exemption review based on the CUSMA Certificate already on file.

Final Thoughts

Since the US ended its $800 de minimis exemption in August 2025, the USA has gone from being the easiest place in the world to order from to one of the most expensive. People in other countries are used to paying VAT or sales tax when they buy goods from abroad, but most American consumers had the benefit of the de minimis exemption for a long time and are not used to this extra burden.

Historically ~60% of our sales have been to American customers, and we hope with CUSMA eligibility that we will continue to make Grin items available to Americans at a reasonable cost. We appreciate your continued loyalty.