What Section 301 tariffs are
Additional duty that attaches to a code and an origin together. Whether it reaches your goods is a question about both.
Licensed U.S. customs brokerage. Customs broker of record; movement coordinated through vetted partners.
Section 301 duties are additional tariffs imposed on specified goods from specified origins, on top of the ordinary rate. Coverage is set by lists of tariff codes, which have been revised and supplemented more than once, and exclusions have been granted, allowed to lapse and reinstated.
Key takeaways
- Additional duty on top of the ordinary rate, not instead of it.
- Coverage is defined by tariff code together with country of origin.
- Lists have been revised repeatedly; exclusions come and go.
- Origin is where goods were made, not where they shipped from.
- A position confirmed a while ago is worth confirming again.
Coverage is a pair, not a single fact
A product is inside or outside Section 301 depending on two things at once: the tariff code it classifies under, and where it originates. Changing either changes the answer.
This is why the classification work matters more than it appears to. A code that is defensible but not correct can put goods inside a measure they do not belong in, or outside one they do — and the second is considerably worse.
Origin is not shipment
Origin means where the goods were produced, under the rules that determine substantial transformation. It is not the port they left from and not the address on the supplier's letterhead.
Routing goods through a third country does not change origin by itself. Whether processing in an intermediate country is sufficient to confer new origin is a technical question with a real answer, and assuming a convenient one is how importers acquire retrospective exposure.
This is a moving target
Lists have been expanded, modified and supplemented. Exclusion processes have opened and closed, and specific exclusions have expired and in some cases been reinstated.
Treat any position on Section 301 as current rather than settled. If your assessment was made a year ago, it is worth reconfirming before you rely on it for a new order.
How it works
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01
Confirm the classification
Coverage is defined by code, so the code has to be right.
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02
Establish true origin
Where produced, not where shipped.
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03
Check the code against current lists
They have changed more than once.
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04
Check for an applicable exclusion
And whether it is currently in force.
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05
Reconfirm before each new programme
Positions age faster here than elsewhere.
Common mistakes
- Treating origin as the port of loading. Origin is where the goods were made.
- Assuming transhipment changes origin. Usually it does not.
- Relying on last year's assessment. Coverage and exclusions have both moved.
- Checking the code but not the origin. Coverage needs both.
- Taking a supplier's assurance as fact. The exposure is yours, not theirs.
Questions
Is this on top of normal duty?
Yes. Section 301 duty is additional to the ordinary rate for the classification, not a replacement for it.
Do exclusions still exist?
Exclusions have been granted, have expired, and in some cases have been reinstated. Whether one applies to your goods today is a current-facts question worth checking rather than assuming.
Can I avoid it by shipping through another country?
Not by routing alone. Origin turns on where the goods were substantially transformed, and arrangements built on the assumption that transhipment changes origin tend to create exposure rather than remove it.
How do I know if my product is covered?
Confirm the classification, establish the origin properly, then check the pair against the current lists. Each step depends on the one before it.
Related
Tell us what you're importing.
Commodity, origin, port and arrival date is enough to start.