Tariff and customs glossary
The words you meet when you look up a US duty rate: how an HTS code is built, which column of the tariff schedule applies, what Section 301 and Chapter 99 add on top, and how customs value is worked out. Each entry links the primary source (the USITC tariff schedule, the US Code, the CFR or USTR).
- HTS codeA 10-digit number from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) that classifies an imported product and decides its duty rate.
- HS codeThe 6-digit Harmonized System code shared by most countries' tariff schedules, maintained by the World Customs Organization.
- Column 1 and Column 2 ratesThe HTS lists three rate columns: Column 1 General (normal trade relations), Column 1 Special (trade agreements and programs) and Column 2 (countries without normal trade relations).
- Ad valorem dutyA duty charged as a percentage of the goods' customs value, such as 3.4%.
- Customs value (transaction value)The value duty is charged on. In the US it is normally the transaction value: the price actually paid or payable, plus certain additions.
- Section 301 tariffsAdditional US duties imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 in response to a foreign country's unfair trade practices; best known for the tariffs on goods from China since 2018.
- Section 232 tariffsDuties or quotas the President can impose under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 when imports are found to threaten US national security.
- Chapter 99 (HTS)The part of the tariff schedule that holds temporary and additional duties, such as Section 301 and Section 232, as their own 9903 headings.
- De minimis (Section 321)The rule that let shipments worth $800 or less per person per day enter the US free of duty and with minimal paperwork. It is currently suspended for all countries.
- Country of origin (substantial transformation)The country where goods were wholly made or last substantially transformed into a new article. Origin decides which rates and additional duties apply.
- Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF)A CBP user fee of 0.3464% of the customs value on formal entries, with a minimum and maximum per entry that CBP adjusts each fiscal year.
- Binding rulingA written decision from CBP on how a specific product is classified, valued or marked, which binds CBP at every US port for that transaction type.