USMCA vs IEEPA. A furniture importer sourcing from a factory in Michoacán spent early 2025 worried about the same fentanyl-related IEEPA tariffs hitting every other Mexican import. His goods qualified under USMCA, so he never paid them. A year later, the tariff that never touched him got struck down by the Supreme Court entirely, and importers who’d been paying it the whole time were left filing refund claims on entries that had already cleared. He didn’t need a refund. He’d built his sourcing around an agreement that didn’t depend on a single administration’s emergency powers holding up in court.
That’s the real difference between the two, and it’s become a lot clearer over the past year than it was when IEEPA tariffs first went into effect. USMCA is a ratified trade agreement with rules of origin, a certification process, and a fixed legal foundation. IEEPA tariffs were executive orders built on an emergency-powers statute that the Supreme Court ultimately found didn’t authorize tariffs at all. One of those frameworks got dismantled by a single 6-3 ruling. The other has been in force since 2020 and is currently under a scheduled joint review to decide whether it continues through 2042.
What USMCA actually saves you
Qualifying goods from Canada or Mexico enter at 0% to low single-digit MFN rates across most categories, and USMCA carries a benefit that gets overlooked constantly: it also exempts qualifying imports from the merchandise processing fee, a savings that applies even on products where the base duty rate was already zero. That adds up fast for high-volume importers, independent of whatever emergency tariff program happens to be active that month.
USMCA-qualifying goods were exempt from the IEEPA fentanyl-related tariffs on Canada and Mexico while that program existed, and they were exempt from the Section 122 universal surcharge for the entire time it ran, through its expiration on July 24, 2026. That’s two separate tariff regimes, imposed under two different legal authorities, both of which carved out USMCA compliance as the exception. IEEPA tariffs no longer exist to worry about. Section 122 has expired on its own statutory clock. USMCA is still there, doing the same job it was doing before either program existed.
Qualifying is the actual work
None of this is automatic. Goods need to meet a rules-of-origin test, either wholly obtained in a USMCA country, produced through a qualifying tariff shift, or meeting a regional value content threshold that runs around 75% for most categories. That means a certificate of origin, supporting bill-of-materials documentation, and records retained for CBP to audit retroactively, sometimes years after the entry cleared. CBP has tightened its review of these certifications since the Section 122 carve-out made USMCA compliance worth more in dollar terms, and a certificate missing required data elements is grounds for a retroactive duty assessment plus a penalty on top of it.
The risk that actually matters now
IEEPA tariffs are gone. Section 122 has expired. The thing worth watching is the USMCA joint review that started July 1, 2026, where the U.S., Mexico, and Canada have to decide whether to extend the agreement through 2042. That’s a genuine sunset risk sitting on the calendar, and it’s a different kind of risk than a court striking down an executive order overnight. It’s a scheduled negotiation, which means there’s time to plan around it, but it also means the savings this article just walked through aren’t permanent by default.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are IEEPA tariffs on Canada and Mexico still in effect? No. They were struck down by the Supreme Court in February 2026 and terminated by CBP that same month.
Does USMCA qualification protect me from every tariff program? No. It protects against tariffs that specifically carve out USMCA-qualifying goods, which included the IEEPA fentanyl tariffs and the Section 122 surcharge. It doesn’t exempt goods from Section 232 sector tariffs.
What do I need to qualify for USMCA preference? Your goods need to meet a rules-of-origin test and be supported by a valid certificate of origin, along with documentation CBP can audit retroactively.
Is USMCA at risk of ending? The agreement is under its first scheduled joint review as of July 2026, with all three countries deciding whether to extend it through 2042. It’s not an immediate risk, but it’s a real one to track.
Does USMCA exempt me from the merchandise processing fee? Yes, on qualifying goods, which is worth claiming even when the base duty rate on your product is already zero.
If you’re sourcing from Canada or Mexico and haven’t confirmed your USMCA qualification is properly documented, that’s worth checking before the next audit cycle, not after. Book a Free Consultation Call with AIT TAHIPO LLC and we’ll review your certificates of origin against what CBP is actually testing for right now.
