CUSMA Compliance 101: What Every Car Wash Operator and Supplier Should Know About Tariff Exposure

Registration will open in August. 

Could your last supplier invoice from the U.S. or Europe already be costing you money — or exposing you to an audit — without you knowing it?

Many car wash operators and suppliers assume CUSMA compliance is someone else's job: the broker's, the supplier's, the accountant's. The paperwork sitting in your inbox right now may already contain the answer.

This session breaks down what CUSMA compliance means in plain terms and walks through the real-world red flags — misclassified HS codes, incomplete Certificates of Origin, non-qualifying content — that quietly turn into unexpected costs.

It's rarely just "the tariff" — it can be a duty, a surcharge, a Most Favored Nation rate, or something else buried in the fine print. There's a lot to track, but it's manageable once you know what you're looking for. For decades, USMCA/CUSMA was a settled agreement — now it's under regular review, and the rules can shift year to year.

The border isn't going back to how it used to be — knowing what to look for is how you stay ahead of it.

You'll leave with a practical checklist to review your own invoices and supplier documents, and a clear sense of what questions to ask before a small gap becomes an expensive one. 

Please meet our speaker: 

Jack Jackson, J44 Group

Bio:

Jack Jackson is the former owner of Awash Systems, a Canadian manufacturer of car, truck and bus washing equipment, in the B2B/Commercial Wash Industry.

For 34 years, Awash imported supplies from the U.S. and Europe and exported 90% of its assembled machines to the U.S. market without issue. Then in March 2025, tariffs hit — and over the following nine months, Jack fought to recover what he could, ultimately getting back $32,000 of the $39,000 in tariffs Awash had been charged.

But the damage was done. Jack sold Awash to a U.S. firm in November 2025. That experience now shapes his hands-on, real-world approach to helping other Canadian operators and suppliers protect their margins.

As founder of J44 Group, a Canada-U.S. trade compliance advisory firm, Jack draws on his experience in both the vehicle wash industry and the practical realities of cross-border trade to help businesses navigate tariffs, origin rules and documentation gaps.

Date/Time: Tuesday, October 20, 2026 - 12:00 to 12:45 p.m. EST

Registration Fees:

• Members - FREE
• Non-Members - $25.00