Customs, tariffs and export controls are entirely federal: CBP runs entry and collection through its ACE system, the USITC maintains the tariff schedule, and the Commerce Department's BIS controls exports. Tariff policy changed sharply in 2026: the Supreme Court ruled on 20 February that IEEPA does not authorise tariffs, IEEPA duties were ended and are being refunded through litigation, and the administration has moved to other statutes, including a Section 122 surcharge, new Section 232 actions and Section 301 tariffs. The duty-free de minimis exemption for low-value shipments remains suspended and is abolished by statute from 1 July 2027. Duty rates must be checked against the tariff schedule in force on the date of entry.
Importing: who files, how and with what security
Every import must be entered by an importer of record, who can be the owner or purchaser of the goods or a licensed customs broker they designate, and who must use reasonable care in declaring classification, value and origin. Filings and payments go through CBP's Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). A foreign company can act as importer of record, but in practice it needs a customs bond and usually a broker, so the importer role should be settled before the first shipment.
Shipments valued at 2,500 US dollars or less can generally use the simpler informal entry, although some goods subject to additional Chapter 99 duties are excluded above 250 US dollars. CBP will not release goods at entry without a bond on file (single-entry or continuous) unless a low-value waiver applies. CBP proposed changes to informal entry and bonding for low-value shipments in October 2026, which were not in force at the check date.1234
Classification and the 2026 tariff picture
Duty starts with the product's classification in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, maintained by the USITC. The schedule is revised often (2026 Revision 21 was published on 9 October 2026), largely because additional duties are added to and removed from Chapter 99. A written CBP ruling on a prospective import gives more certainty than an informal view; oral advice from CBP staff does not bind CBP.
On 20 February 2026 the Supreme Court held in Learning Resources v. Trump that IEEPA does not authorise tariffs. The same day Executive Order 14389 ended the IEEPA-based duties, leaving Section 232 and other duties in place. Importers that paid IEEPA duties can request refunds through the CAPE tool in ACE following Court of International Trade orders, and should check entry and liquidation status, because the process depends on that litigation.
The administration then turned to other powers. Proclamation 11012 applied a 10 percent Section 122 surcharge from 24 February 2026 for 150 days to 24 July 2026, with exemptions for USMCA-qualifying goods and Section 232 goods. Section 232 investigations and proclamations continued through 2026 across sectors from copper and semiconductors to aircraft and drones, and a 23 July 2026 memorandum directed Section 301 tariffs of 10 or 12.5 percent (or net-of-MFN rates) on goods of 60 economies. Because the scope, rates and exemptions of these measures change frequently, the landed cost of each product should be recalculated against the current schedule before contracts are priced.56789101112
Low-value shipments: de minimis in 2026
The duty-free de minimis exemption for shipments valued at 800 US dollars or less no longer applies in practice. It was suspended for all countries from 29 August 2025, the suspension was continued by Executive Order 14388 from 24 February 2026, and CBP made it indefinite by regulation from 24 June 2026 for non-postal shipments and from 24 July 2026 for mail. Legislation enacted in July 2025 abolishes the exemption by statute from 1 July 2027.
Direct-to-consumer and e-commerce models built on duty-free low-value parcels therefore need to budget for duty and for formal or informal entry on every shipment, and to decide who acts as importer of record.131415
Free trade agreements and export controls
The United States has comprehensive free trade agreements with 20 countries, including USMCA with Canada and Mexico, in force since 1 July 2020. Preference is not automatic: the importer must hold a certification of origin with the nine USMCA data elements and the goods must meet the rules of origin. USMCA-qualifying goods were exempt from the 2026 Section 122 surcharge, so origin evidence can carry real value.
On the export side, the Export Administration Regulations reach all items in the United States, US-origin items anywhere, and some foreign-made items with US content or made with US technology. Items not on the Commerce Control List are EAR99, which still means subject to the EAR. Sharing controlled technology or source code with a foreign national inside the US is a deemed export to that person's home country, which matters for hiring and for engineers visiting from overseas group companies.1617101819
| Measure | Legal basis | Status found | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| IEEPA tariffs (2025) | International Emergency Economic Powers Act | Held unlawful by the Supreme Court on 20 February 2026; ended by Executive Order 14389 | Refund eligibility through the CAPE tool in ACE |
| Temporary import surcharge, 10% | Section 122, Trade Act of 1974 (Proclamation 11012) | From 24 February 2026 for 150 days, to 24 July 2026 unless extended by Congress | Whether any extension or replacement applies to entries after 24 July 2026 |
| Section 232 duties | Trade Expansion Act of 1962 | In force and expanding; new investigations and proclamations in 2026 | Whether the product or its derivatives are covered, and the current rate |
| Section 301 duties | Trade Act of 1974 | Country-specific actions, including a July 2026 action on 60 economies | Origin of the goods and annex exemptions |
| De minimis exemption (800 US dollars) | 19 USC 1321; Executive Order 14388; CBP rules of June 2026 | Suspended indefinitely; abolished by statute from 1 July 2027 | Entry type and importer of record for each low-value shipment |
How it works, step by step
- Decide who will act as importer of record and appoint a licensed customs broker if needed2Importer; licensed customs broker
- Classify each product in the current HTSUS and, where uncertain, request a written ruling65US International Trade Commission (schedule); CBP (rulings)
- Obtain a single-entry or continuous customs bond4Approved surety; CBP
- Set up ACE access to file entries, view statements and request any IEEPA refunds19CBP
- Check additional duties in force on the date of entry and any free trade agreement claim10111217CBP; USTR; Department of Commerce
- Classify exports, software and technology under the EAR before shipping or sharing1819Bureau of Industry and Security
No timings or fees are shown unless an official source states them.
Documents usually needed
- Commercial invoice and packing list
- Customs bond (CBP Form 301) and customs broker power of attorney
- Tariff classification analysis and any CBP ruling
- USMCA certification of origin with the nine Annex 5-A data elements, or the equivalent for another agreement
- Export classification (ECCN or EAR99) for goods, software and technology
- ACE Portal account records for entries and refund requests
Common mistakes
- Pricing contracts on duty rates from an earlier year; the 2026 schedule had reached Revision 21 by October.
- Assuming the end of IEEPA tariffs means lower duty overall; Section 122, 232 and 301 measures may apply instead.
- Building an e-commerce model on duty-free de minimis parcels, which are suspended and will be abolished from 1 July 2027.
- Claiming USMCA or other preference without a compliant certification of origin and rules-of-origin analysis.
- Overlooking deemed exports when foreign employees or visiting group staff access controlled technology or source code.
When the business crosses borders
- Country of origin, not country of shipment, drives Section 301 and many other additional duties, so transshipment through a third country does not change the duty.
- Goods qualifying under USMCA were exempt from the 2026 Section 122 surcharge, which raises the value of origin planning for supply chains running through Canada and Mexico.
- EAR controls can follow US-origin items and some foreign-made products abroad, so non-US group companies may need US export licences for re-exports.
- Foreign exporters selling on delivered duty paid terms carry the duty risk of US tariff changes and should check who is importer of record.
Questions businesses ask
Are the 2025 tariffs on most countries still in force?
The IEEPA-based tariffs were held unlawful by the Supreme Court on 20 February 2026 and ended the same day, and refunds are being processed through litigation and CBP's CAPE tool. Other duties, including Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs, remain, and a temporary Section 122 surcharge applied from 24 February to 24 July 2026.78910
Can small parcels still enter the US duty-free?
No. The 800 US dollar de minimis exemption is suspended indefinitely for both postal and non-postal shipments, and a statute abolishes it from 1 July 2027. Low-value goods need formal or informal entry and pay duty.131415
Does a foreign company need a US entity to import?
The law requires an importer of record, which may be the owner or purchaser of the goods or a licensed broker acting for them, and goods are not released without a customs bond. Whether a foreign company acts directly or through a US subsidiary is a commercial and tax choice.24
What this guide does not yet confirm
These points need checking with a qualified local professional in the United States before you rely on them.
- Whether the Section 122 surcharge expired on 24 July 2026 or was extended or replaced was not confirmed on a CBP page; a Federal Register search found no extension.
- Current Section 232 rates and product scope (steel, aluminium, copper, autos, lumber, semiconductors and others) and current Section 301 rates on Chinese goods were not confirmed; official pages read list investigations but not current rates.
- The effective date and exempt-product annex of the July 2026 Section 301 action on 60 economies, and the status of country-specific Canadian duties announced in July to September 2026, could not yet be checked.
- Outcome of the 2026 USMCA joint review was not found on an official page.
- Product conformity regimes administered by partner government agencies (for example FDA, CPSC, FCC, USDA) were not researched.
- ITAR (State Department) controls on defence articles, BIS Entity List and end-use controls, and export filing (EEI) thresholds were not confirmed.
- Importer Security Filing for ocean cargo and CBP's September 2026 proposal on heightened import disclosures were not researched in detail.
Sources and review status
Each statement is numbered to the source it was checked against. We use official sources where we can, and each statement says whether it was checked against an official or a secondary source. Sources last checked on 19 October 2026. None of it has been professionally reviewed yet: it is research checked against official and secondary sources by WONE Global, not legal or tax advice.
The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is the system through which the trade community reports imports and exports to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and through which the government determines admissibility. Federal. Customs is exclusively federal; states do not run customs procedures.
Entry of imported goods must be made by a party qualifying as importer of record, using reasonable care; the owner or purchaser of the goods, or a person they designate who holds a customs broker licence under 19 USC 1641, may file. Federal, 19 USC 1484(a). The statute does not define reasonable care.
Statutory text read on the Cornell Legal Information Institute reproduction of the United States Code; the official text is published at uscode.house.gov.
Shipments of merchandise not exceeding 2,500 US dollars in value may be entered under the informal entry procedure, except articles valued above 250 US dollars classified in Chapter 99, Subchapters III and IV, of the HTSUS. Federal, 19 CFR 143.21(a). Shipments above the limit, or excluded Chapter 99 articles, need formal entry. CBP proposed changes to informal entry filing and bonding for low-value shipments on 8 October 2026 (Federal Register document 2026-20650); not in force at the check date.
The eCFR is an authoritative but unofficial editorial compilation; the official text is the annual CFR edition and Federal Register.
Imported merchandise is not released from CBP custody at entry unless a single-entry or continuous bond on CBP Form 301, executed by an approved corporate surety or secured by cash or US government obligations, is on file. Federal, 19 CFR 142.4(a). The port director may waive surety for merchandise valued at no more than 2,500 US dollars where estimated duties are paid before release and the importer has no record of delinquency; the waiver does not apply to quota merchandise, merchandise that is hard to appraise or classify, or where redelivery may be needed (142.4(c)).
The eCFR is an authoritative but unofficial editorial compilation; the official text is the annual CFR edition and Federal Register.
Any importer or exporter, or other interested person, may ask CBP for a written ruling interpreting customs law, generally only for prospective transactions, and oral advice from CBP staff is not binding on CBP. Federal, 19 CFR Part 177. Commonly used to obtain advance certainty on tariff classification and origin.
The eCFR is an authoritative but unofficial editorial compilation; the official text is the annual CFR edition and Federal Register. The section read does not itself use the word binding for written rulings; the statement relies only on what it says about requests, prospective transactions and oral advice.
The US International Trade Commission maintains the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, and 2026 HTS Revision 21 was published on 9 October 2026. Federal. The schedule is revised several times a year as tariff measures change, so the revision in force on the date of entry must be used.
The USITC maintenance role is also stated. The download link on the page carried a release date of 7 October 2026, which differs from the printed publication date.
On 20 February 2026 the US Supreme Court held in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump (No. 24-1287) that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorise the President to impose tariffs. Federal. Does not affect tariffs imposed under other statutes such as Section 232 or Section 301.
Executive Order 14389 of 20 February 2026 ended the additional ad valorem duties imposed under IEEPA-based orders and stated that it does not affect other duties, including duties imposed under Section 232. Federal. The order says the IEEPA duties are no longer in effect and are to stop being collected as soon as practicable; the related national emergencies remain in effect.
Read on the FederalRegister.gov web edition, which describes itself as unofficial; the official text is the Federal Register PDF on govinfo.gov.
Refunds of IEEPA duties following Court of International Trade orders are requested through the CAPE tool in the ACE Portal by the importer of record or its designated customs broker, which must have an active ACE Portal account. Federal. The test case is Euro-Notions Florida, Inc. v. United States (order of 7 April 2026), which replaced Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. United States (order of 4 March 2026); the refunds cover IEEPA duties collected from 3 February 2025.
Read on the FederalRegister.gov web edition, which describes itself as unofficial; the official text is the Federal Register PDF on govinfo.gov. This is a Paperwork Reduction Act notice describing the refund process, not a rule; the scope of refunds remains subject to the litigation.
Proclamation 11012 imposed, under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a temporary import surcharge of 10 percent ad valorem on goods entered from 24 February 2026, for 150 days ending at 12:01 a.m. EDT on 24 July 2026 unless suspended, modified, terminated earlier or extended by Act of Congress. Federal. Exempts, among others, goods entered duty-free as goods of Canada or Mexico under USMCA, certain CAFTA-DR textiles, goods subject to Section 232 measures, and listed categories such as critical minerals, energy, pharmaceuticals and certain electronics; otherwise applies in addition to other duties.
Read on the FederalRegister.gov web edition, which describes itself as unofficial; the official text is the Federal Register PDF on govinfo.gov. A Federal Register search on 19 October 2026 found no later document extending the surcharge, but its expiry was not confirmed on a CBP page.
A Section 232 investigation by the Department of Commerce determines the effect of imports on national security, with the Secretary's report due within 270 days of initiation, after which the President may adjust imports of the article and its derivatives. Federal. Investigations initiated in 2025 and 2026 cover, among others, copper, timber and lumber, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, trucks, critical minerals, commercial aircraft, polysilicon, drones, wind turbines, robotics and industrial machinery, medical products and anthracite coal (initiated 29 June 2026).
The page lists investigations but not the duty rates or current scope of each resulting proclamation; actions continued in 2026, for example Proclamation 11045 of 20 July 2026 on aluminium (Federal Register document 2026-14990).
A presidential memorandum of 23 July 2026 directs the US Trade Representative to impose Section 301 tariffs on all goods of 60 economies found to have failed to prohibit imports made with forced labour, at 10 percent or 12.5 percent, or on a net-of-MFN basis for the EU, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Switzerland. Federal. Products listed in an annex are exempt; tariff-rate quotas are to be set for certain textiles and apparel from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia. No end date is set and USTR may modify or terminate the tariffs.
Read on the FederalRegister.gov web edition, which describes itself as unofficial; the official text is the Federal Register PDF on govinfo.gov. The effective date of the tariffs and the annex of exempt products (published as images) could not yet be checked. USTR's Section 301 page also lists other 2026 investigations, including structural excess capacity in manufacturing (initiated 11 March 2026).
Executive Order 14388 of 20 February 2026 continued the suspension of the duty-free de minimis exemption under 19 USC 1321(a)(2)(C) for all shipments not covered by 50 USC 1702(b), regardless of value, country of origin, mode of transport or method of entry, from 24 February 2026. Federal. Continues the suspension first applied from 29 August 2025 by Executive Order 14324. Separate duty rules apply to international postal shipments.
Read on the FederalRegister.gov web edition, which describes itself as unofficial; the official text is the Federal Register PDF on govinfo.gov. The original suspension date of 29 August 2025 is from Executive Order 14324 on whitehouse.gov, section 4(a).
A CBP interim final rule effective 24 June 2026 indefinitely suspends the de minimis administrative exemption for imports valued at 800 US dollars or less arriving by any mode other than the international postal network, so these shipments must use formal or informal entry. Federal, 19 CFR 10.151(b). CBP states it acts under its own statutory authority and that the rule does not in practice change the existing suspension. A companion rule suspends de minimis for postal shipments from 24 July 2026 and creates a postal informal entry process for mail valued at 2,500 US dollars or less (Federal Register document 2026-12669).
Read on the FederalRegister.gov web edition, which describes itself as unofficial; the official text is the Federal Register PDF on govinfo.gov.
Legislation enacted on 4 July 2025 terminates the de minimis exemption by statute with effect from 1 July 2027. Federal. Stated by CBP in its June 2026 rulemaking; until then the exemption is suspended administratively.
Read on the FederalRegister.gov web edition, which describes itself as unofficial; the official text is the Federal Register PDF on govinfo.gov. The statutory text itself could not yet be checked; CBP refers to it as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The United States has comprehensive free trade agreements in force with 20 countries: Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Peru and Singapore. Federal. Japan is covered by separate limited agreements (including a critical minerals agreement) that USTR does not count as free trade agreements.
CBP's free trade agreements page lists the same 14 agreements.
The US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) entered into force on 1 July 2020, and a claim for USMCA preferential treatment requires a certification of origin, in any format, containing the nine minimum data elements in USMCA Annex 5-A. Federal. Goods must meet the USMCA rules of origin. The CBP page read was last modified on 25 April 2024 and does not address 2026 developments such as the USMCA joint review.
Items subject to the Export Administration Regulations include all items in the United States, all US-origin items wherever located, certain foreign-made items incorporating controlled US-origin content above de minimis levels and certain foreign-produced direct products, and items subject to the EAR but not listed on the Commerce Control List are designated EAR99. Federal, 15 CFR 734.3(a) and (c), administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security. Whether a licence is needed depends on the item's classification, destination, end user and end use. Defence articles under ITAR are outside this claim.
The eCFR is an authoritative but unofficial editorial compilation; the official text is the annual CFR edition and Federal Register.
Releasing controlled technology or source code to a foreign person inside the United States is a deemed export to that person's most recent country of citizenship or permanent residency. Federal, 15 CFR 734.13(a)(2) and (b). Relevant to hiring foreign nationals and to sharing technology with visiting staff of overseas group companies.
The eCFR is an authoritative but unofficial editorial compilation; the official text is the annual CFR edition and Federal Register.
Questions on this topic
19 statements on customs, tariffs and export controls in the United States
