Tariff Update for Manufacturers: What Changed in Early November 2026

If you run a machine shop, fab shop, or coating line, the first week of November brought a US midterm upset, a restart of Canada-US trade talks, and two factory surveys pointing at the same problem on your floor: tariffs keep pushing up what you pay for steel. This tariff update for manufacturers covers what changed, what stayed in place, and where your plant has room to protect its margin.

Factory surveys show the cost pressure

Canada’s manufacturing sector slipped into contraction in October for the first time in 2026, according to S&P Global. Output and new orders both fell, input costs rose at their fastest pace since June 2022, and manufacturers named tariffs on steel among the main causes. Shops drew down existing inventory instead of buying new material.

US factories posted the opposite headline. The October ISM Manufacturing PMI rose to 55.5, its tenth straight month of expansion, while survey sentiment worsened for a third month in a row, with about two-thirds of respondent comments negative. The prices index stayed high at 75.2.

Both surveys point to material costs climbing faster than most shops planned for, whichever side of the border you sit on.

The US midterms shift Congress, not tariff rates

Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate on November 3, and the new Congress takes office in January 2027. Most US tariffs in force today rest on presidential authority under Section 232 and Section 301, and neither requires a vote of Congress to continue. A bill to roll tariffs back would need to survive a presidential veto.

For your planning, expect congressional hearings on tariffs and prices in 2027, and keep budgeting off the rates in force today.

Canada-US talks restart after a weekend call

Prime Minister Carney and President Trump spoke on November 1, and two days later Carney said “more intense” negotiations had started, with the US asking less and offering more, though no deal is finished. Trump has said a deal with Canada is close. Formal talks collapsed in August, so treat these statements as progress, not a new tariff schedule.

Here is what remains in force while the talks continue:

• Since August 22, the US applies a 50% tariff on about US$20 billion of Canadian goods.
• Canada answered with counter-tariffs on US goods starting September 8.
• CUSMA stays in force, and since the US did not agree to extend it at the July 1 joint review, the agreement now goes through a review every year.

Steel and aluminum tariffs remain the biggest line item

For most metalworking and finishing shops, Section 232 drives more cost than any other tariff. The rules changed twice this year, and the details decide how much duty you owe on each shipment.

The US Section 232 rules in force today:

• A 50% tariff applies to the full value of goods made entirely or almost entirely of steel, aluminum, or copper, and a 25% tariff applies to the full value of derivative goods made substantially of those metals, since April 6.
• Under the June 1 proclamation, the 25% tariff on CUSMA-qualifying products from Canada and Mexico applies only to the non-US content.
• Products with 15% or less steel, aluminum, or copper by weight are no longer subject to Section 232, except goods in HTS chapters 72, 73, 74, and 76.
• Goods made with US melted and poured steel or US smelted and cast aluminum face a lower 10% rate.

Canadian shops face a second layer on imports. Since December 26, 2025, Canada applies a 25% surtax to the full value of listed steel derivative goods, such as fasteners, wire, chains, and fabricated structures, from all countries, including the US.

Global and China tariffs hold steady

The 10% global Section 122 tariff expired on July 24 and was replaced the same day by Section 301 forced-labor tariffs on 60 economies at 10% or 12.5%. Canada and Mexico sit in the 10% tier, and goods already under Section 232 do not pay both. Unlike Section 122, these tariffs have no expiry date.

The US-China trade truce now runs to January 10, 2027, after a two-month extension announced in September.

If you export finished parts, some of the Section 301 and Section 232 duties you pay on imported material qualify for refund through duty drawback. We covered the eligibility rules and the records a broker needs in Duty Drawback for Manufacturers: Why Most 2026 Tariff Refunds Go Unclaimed, and with these tariffs staying in place, the refund math gets bigger every month you wait.

Where your plant still controls cost

You do not control tariff rates, and most of your customers will push back on price increases. Plant efficiency is the lever left, and it starts with your numbers:

• Update the material portion of your standard costs with current landed cost, including duty, freight, and brokerage, so your quotes reflect what steel costs today.
• Review earned hours by work center against standard runtime, since every point of efficiency you recover offsets part of the higher material cost.
• Pull CUSMA certificates of origin and mill certs for your steel and aluminum purchases, and confirm melted and poured origin where it lowers your duty.
• Add a tariff or material surcharge clause to quotes valid for longer than 30 days.
• Sort the duties you paid this year by program and check which ones qualify for drawback on exported product.

OnRamp posts production, receipts, and shipments to accounting as they happen, so you see work center efficiency and a weekly P&L for each plant without a month-end scramble. When tariffs raise your material cost, you find the lagging work center and fix it before the margin slips.