Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA)
CUSMA, also known as the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, is a free trade agreement that replaced NAFTA in July 2020. CUSMA provides preferential, duty-free treatment on specific goods that meet the rules of origin, determining the extent of North American production required for a product to be considered.
How to Check if Your Item Qualifies
You can determine if your product qualifies under CUSMA by:
- Looking up your 10 digit HTS Code (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) on the official US site here
- Check the Special Rate column — if you see “S” or “S+”, your product may qualify for CUSMA duty-free treatment OR if it shows Free in the General Duty column.
CUSMA applies to countries of origin being Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.
How to submit CUSMA certification
To access preferential, duty-free treatment on CUSMA eligible items, you'll need to submit the required details through your Chit Chats account. This must be done for each eligible SKU. Once your submission is approved, you'll receive an email notification, and the preferential duty-free rates will automatically appear when you purchase DDP postage for that SKU. Currently approval may take up to 3 business days, though this timeline may change as we continue to roll out and improve the new system.
If any information (incorrect HTS classification, missing information) provided is incorrect this could cause delays.
Go to Settings > Shipping > CUSMA Certification to fill out your CUSMA form. Remember to sign the CUSMA pdf before submitting to Chit Chats.
Reference this step by step tutorial for more information on how to submit your CUSMA Certification:
Note that we have implemented a digital signature to eliminate the need to download, sign and upload the certification form as noted in the video below. If you have already begun the process, please ensure you digitally sign on the 'basic information' step.
Additional Fees
Even if the item is duty free under CUSMA there still may be:
- tariff (reciprocal tariffs may still apply depending on the item)
- merchandise processing fee
- shipment item fee
Read more about CUSMA Certification and how it may affect you here.
SKUs
CUSMA certification requires you to submit your products by SKU. This is a unique identifier for your products. If you don't have SKUs you will need to create one. Here is a tool that may be helpful. This is not associated with Chit Chats but may help provide guidance.