Landed cost — Canada
Importing Custom Apparel Into Canada: Duty and Landed Cost
Canada is the market most often modelled wrongly, because the obvious assumption is wrong. Pakistan is a beneficiary of Canada’s General Preferential Tariff — but apparel is one of the things that programme deliberately leaves out.
Canada’s GPT excludes most apparel, so Pakistani garments pay the MFN rate — 18% on cotton knitwear — plus 5% GST on the duty-paid value.
The short version
- Pakistan is a GPT beneficiary, but GPT preferences exclude most apparel and textile products.
- So apparel pays the MFN rate. On cotton jerseys and pullovers (6110.20.00) and cotton T-shirts (6109.10.00) that rate is 18%.
- GPT is not listed as an applicable treatment on those tariff lines at all.
- GST of 5% is payable on the duty-paid value of the shipment.
- Per C$100 of goods: C$18 duty, then 5% GST on C$118 is C$5.90, so C$123.90 before freight and the courier’s brokerage fee.
- In participating provinces HST applies instead, at a higher combined rate.
- Canada’s 2025 cut-and-sew origin rule benefits LDC suppliers only; Pakistani apparel remains at the MFN rate of 18%.
Checked against the official sources linked below on 23 September 2026. Duty and tax law changes — we re-check before every quote rather than publishing a number and letting it go stale. Verify your own commodity code before you commit to a price: CBSA Customs Tariff — find your tariff item
Why the preference you would expect does not apply
Canada’s General Preferential Tariff covers over 80% of tariff lines for goods — but explicitly not most apparel and textile products, footwear, certain agricultural goods or certain steel products. Pakistan is a GPT beneficiary country; that simply does not help for garments.
You can see it on the tariff line itself. For cotton jerseys and pullovers (6110.20.00) and cotton T-shirts (6109.10.00), the Customs Tariff lists a long set of preferential treatments — LDCT, CUSMA, and the various free-trade partners — and GPT is not among them.
The practical consequence: budget Canadian orders at the MFN rate from the start. This is the one market of the four where assuming a developing-country preference will put your margin out by double digits.
Source: Department of Finance Canada — unilateral tariff preference programsCBSA Customs Tariff T2026-2 (effective 1 September 2026) — Chapter 61
The MFN rate, and the tax on top
For the two lines most of our knitwear falls under — 6110.20.00 and 6109.10.00 — the MFN rate is 18%. Woven garments sit in Chapter 62 and have their own rates, so check your own code rather than carrying 18% across everything.
GST of 5% is then payable on the duty-paid value of the shipment: the value of the goods plus the duty, not the value alone. In provinces that participate in the harmonised system, HST applies instead at a higher combined rate.
As in the UK and EU, a GST/HST-registered business recovers the tax through input tax credits, so the tax is cash flow. The 18% duty is not — that one is a permanent part of your unit cost, and it is the number to build your Canadian retail price around.
Source: CBSA — determining duties and taxes on commercial goodsCanada Revenue Agency — GST/HST on imports and exports
One rule that did not change for Pakistan
Canada liberalised its apparel rules of origin on 1 January 2025, so cutting and sewing in a beneficiary country now confers origin regardless of where the fabric came from. That helps least-developed-country suppliers under the LDCT.
It does not help Pakistani apparel: the General Preferential Tariff excludes garments entirely, GPT+ is not yet in force, and Pakistan is not an LDC. CBSA’s own notice puts it plainly — no rule of origin exists for apparel under the GPT because those goods are not eligible for it.
Budget Canada at the MFN rate of 18% and treat any future GPT+ coverage of apparel as upside, not as the plan.
Source: CBSA Customs Notice 24-41 — tariff preference programs for developing countries (para 7)Department of Finance Canada — unilateral tariff preference programs
Why we quote DDP
On this route the 18% duty is permanent cost and the 5% GST is not, so the two belong on separate lines in your model. A quote that merges them, or omits the duty because it assumed a developing-country preference, will be wrong by roughly a fifth of your goods value.
That is what DDP means: freight, duty, tax and carrier fees paid before the parcel lands, each itemised on your quote. Ask every supplier you compare to itemise the same three lines — if one will not, that is your answer about which number is real.
Questions we get asked about Canada
- Does Canada’s General Preferential Tariff cover clothing from Pakistan?
- No. GPT preferences cover over 80% of tariff lines but exclude most apparel and textile products. Pakistan is a GPT beneficiary country, but garments do not qualify, so they pay the MFN rate.
- How much is Canadian duty on custom hoodies and T-shirts?
- On cotton jerseys and pullovers (6110.20.00) and cotton T-shirts (6109.10.00) the MFN rate is 18%. Woven garments fall in Chapter 62 with their own rates, so check your own commodity code.
- Is GST charged on the goods or on the goods plus duty?
- On the duty-paid value — the value of the goods plus the duty. GST is 5%; in participating provinces HST applies instead at a higher combined rate.
- Does the fabric have to be made in Pakistan?
- For Canada the question does not arise — Pakistani apparel pays the MFN rate whatever the fabric origin, because no preference programme covers it. The 2025 cut-and-sew origin rule applies to LDC suppliers.
The other markets we ship to
Duty is set by the destination, so the same garment lands at a different cost in each of these. The overview of how the four compare is in what duty actually costs.