Author: BCB International

On 5/28/2025, the United States Court of International Trade permanently enjoined all tariffs issued in reliance upon the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and vacated the corresponding tariff orders. In other words, the Court stopped all IEEPA tariffs and cancelled the orders issuing them.

This decision pertains to the tariffs issued on products of Canada, Mexico, and China on alleged fentanyl/trafficking grounds and the reciprocal tariffs, including the 10% “baseline” tariff on essentially all countries other than Canada and Mexico.

 Section 232 tariffs on automobiles, automobile parts, steel/iron and aluminum (including derivatives) are unaffected by this decision. Accordingly, those tariffs remain in place.

 The Court Order gives U.S. Customs and Border Protection 10 calendar days to effectuate the permanent injunction halting the tariffs. The Order is silent as to whether the decision will apply retroactively and/or whether refunds will be issued. 

 The U.S. Government has already filed its Notice of Appeal appealing the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. It remains to be seen if a “stay” of the Court of International Trade’s decision pending appeal will be sought and ultimately granted. If a stay is granted, tariff collection could continue pending the Court of Appeals decision.

The President has signed an Executive Order reducing the IEEPA Reciprocal Tariff rate applicable to products of China from 125% to 10% effective May 14, 2025 at 12:01 am for a period of 90 days. In other words, Chinese products will be subject to the same 10% baseline reciprocal rate applicable to most other countries. The reduction is NOT retroactive.

Further, the Order modifies the country-specific rate that would be applicable to China from 125% to the originally assigned 34%. However, that 34% rate is suspended for a period of 90 days.

At this time, all other tariff orders pertaining to products of China remain in effect including but not limited to the 20% IEEPA Fentanyl tariffs, Section 301 tariffs, and Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, automobiles, and automobile parts.

An Executive Order has been signed further increasing the reciprocal tariff rate on products of China to 125% effective April 10, 2025 at 12:01 am.  Any shipments that cross the border after that time will be subject to duty at the increased rate.

Additionally, the Order suspends the country-specific tariff rates listed in Annex III to the original reciprocal tariff Executive Order.  The 10% base line rate remains in effect for all countries except for Canada, Mexico, and of course, China.  Products of Canada and Mexico are exempt from the 10% rate regardless of USMCA qualification and continue to be exempt from the 25% IEEPA tariffs if qualifying for preferential treatment pursuant to the USMCA.

The official CSMS message from U.S. Customs can be found HERE.

The Annex to the Executive Order pertaining to the 25% tariffs on automobiles and certain automobile parts has been published in the Federal Register.  It can be found HERE.

The tariffs on subject automobiles are effective April 3, 2025 at 12:01 am.  The tariffs on the parts outlined in the Annex are effective May 3, 2025 at 12:01 am.

The President of the United States has signed, and the White House has published, an Executive Order outlining and imposing the long-threatened “reciprocal” tariffs on imports in the the United States.  The Executive Order can be found HERE and the Fact Sheet can be found HERE.

The annexes referenced in the order have not yet been published, but we will post them once available.

Late in the evening on March 11, 2025, CBP issued CSMS messages advising that the Secretary of Commerce has certified that “adequate systems are in place to fully, efficiently, and expediently process and collect tariff revenue” for the additional derivatives classified outside of chapters 73 for steel, and 76 for aluminum.  For those derivatives, which are pasted below, the 25% duty will be charged on the VALUE of the aluminum or steel content, if known.  If the value is unknown, the 25% duty must be charged on the total value of the product.

For derivatives classified under 73 and 76 and listed in the applicable Federal Register Notices, duty is charged on the full value of the article regardless of content.

The CSMS message for Steel can be found HERE.  Aluminum HERE

For steel derivatives, effective at 12:01 am, 25% duty will also be charged on the value of the steel content for the following HTS numbers on any shipment that crosses the border after that time. The importer will need to provide BCB with the value of the steel content. If the value is unknown, duty will be charged on the full value. Importers also must provide BCB with the country of melt and pour of the steel.  If the steel used to produce the derivative article was melted and poured in the U.S., then the article is exempt from the subject duty.

8431.31.00; 8431.42.00; 8431.49.10; 8431.49.90; 8432.10.00; 8432.90.00; 8547.90.00; 9403.20.00; 9405.99.20; 9405.99.40; 9406.20.00; 9406.90.01.

For aluminum derivatives, the same applies to the below HTS numbers.  In addition, BCB requires the (1) primary country of smelt, (2) secondary country of smelt, (3) country of cast of the aluminum. Similar to steel, if the aluminum used to produce the derivative article was smelted and cast in the U.S., the article is exempt from the subject duty.

6603.90.8100; 8302.10.3000; 8302.10.6030; 8302.10.6060; 8302.10.6090; 8302.20.0000; 8302.30.3010; 8302.30.3060; 8302.41.3000; 8302.41.6015; 8302.41.6045; 8302.41.6050; 8302.41.6080; 8302.42.3010; 8302.42.3015; 8302.42.3065; 8302.49.6035; 8302.49.6045; 8302.49.6055; 8302.49.6085; 8302.50.0000; 8302.60.3000; 8302.60.9000; 8305.10.0050; 8306.30.0000; 8414.59.6590; 8415.90.8025; 8415.90.8045; 8415.90.8085; 8418.99.8005; 8418.99.8050; 8418.99.8060; 8419.50.5000; 8419.90.1000; 8422.90.0640; 8424.90.9080; 8473.30.2000; 8473.30.5100; 8479.89.9599; 8479.90.8500; 8479.90.9596 8481.90.9060; 8481.90.9085; 8486.90.0000; 8487.90.0080; 8503.00.9520; 8508.70.0000; 8513.90.2000; 8515.90.2000; 8516.90.5000; 8516.90.8050; 8517.71.0000; 8517.79.0000; 8529.90.7300; 8529.90.9760; 8536.90.8585; 8538.10.0000; 8541.90.0000; 8543.90.8885; 8547.90.0020; 8547.90.0030; 8547.90.0040; 8708.10.3050; 8708.10.60; 8708.29.5160; 8708.80.6590; 8708.99.6890; 8716.80.5010; 8807.30.0060; 9013.90.8000; 9031.90.9195; 9401.99.9081; 9403.10.00; 9403.20.00; 9403.99.1040; 9403.99.9010; 9403.99.9015; 9403.99.9020; 9403.99.9040; 9403.99.9045; 9405.99.4020; 9506.11.4080; 9506.51.4000; 9506.51.6000; 9506.59.4040; 9506.70.2090; 9506.91.0010; 9506.91.0020; 9506.91.0030; 9506.99.0510; 9506.99.0520; 9506.99.0530; 9506.99.1500; 9506.99.2000; 9506.99.2580; 9506.99.2800; 9506.99.5500; 9506.99.6080; 9507.30.2000; 9507.30.4000; 9507.30.6000; 9507.30.8000; 9507.90.6000; 9603.90.8050.

The Department of Commerce has posted revised HTS lists for steel and aluminum, including some derivatives, to which 25% duty will be applicable effective March 12, 2025 at 12:01 am. The applicable notice pertaining to steel can be found HERE. Aluminum can be found HERE. As previously advised, Canada and Mexico will no longer be exempt from these Section 232 duties as things stand now REGARDLESS of whether or not the product qualifies for USMCA duty free treatment.  Section 232 duties are separate. It is imperative that you review the above links in full and determine if your products will be subject. Anything subject to these orders that crosses the border after March 12 at 12:01 am will be charged duty at the rate of 25%.

Further, and as stated in the previous Notices and Executive Order, the tariffs will ultimately be applicable to additional steel and aluminum derivatives classified outside of chapters 73 and 76, but the duty will only be charged on the steel or aluminum content. There will be an exemption for derivatives in instances where the steel or aluminum used to product the derivative was melted and poured in the United States.

Duties will not be effective on the aforementioned additional derivatives until “public notification of the Secretary of Commerce” that systems are in place to process and collect these tariffs.

The President has signed an Executive Order exempting products of Canada that qualify for duty free treatment pursuant to the terms of the USMCA agreement EFFECTIVE MARCH 7, 2025 at 12:01 am.

**Notably, the effective date of the exemption is March 7, 2025 at 12:01 am. Accordingly, and unfortunately, any shipments that have crossed the border between March 4, 2025 at 12:01 am and the aforementioned effective date, will still be subject to the tariffs and the same will be owed to U.S. Customs. If you have shipments pending that have not yet crossed the border, and you are claiming USMCA treatment on those shipments, the shipments will be subject to duty if they cross the border this evening and prior to 12:01 am tomorrow, March 7, 2025.**

The Executive Order states as follows: 

“(a) Articles that are entered free of duty as a good of Canada under the terms of general note 11 to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), including any treatment set forth in subchapter XXIII of chapter 98 and subchapter XXII of chapter 99 of the HTSUS, as related to the Agreement between the United States of America, United Mexican States, and Canada, shall not be subject to the additional ad valorem rate of duty described in section 2(a) or section 2(b) of Executive Order 14193.

(b) The additional rate of duty on potash that is not subject to subsection (a) of this section shall be reduced to 10 percent in lieu of 25 percent. 

(c) The modifications set out in this section shall be effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on March 7, 2025.”

 General Note 11 referenced above contains the applicable “rules of origin” under the USMCA agreement for determining whether your good qualifies for preferential treatment.

 In summary, if you claim USMCA duty free treatment on products of Canada, your entries will not be subject to the 25% duty. If you ship goods for which you do not claim USMCA treatment, your entries will still be subject to the 25% duty.

CBP has issued official CSMS messages advising the threatened tariffs on Canada and Mexico take effective March 4, 2025 at 12:01 am.  All products of Canada and Mexico, as the same are defined in each respective notice, will be subject to an additional tariff rate of 25% with few exceptions.  Note certain energy and energy resources will be subject to a lower rate of 10%.

As it pertains to the applicable rules of origin, the rules are the same as in the prior directives. Specifically, whether a good is a product of Canada or Mexico is determined based upon the application of EITHER 19 CFR 102 or the “substantial transformation” transformation test. If a good is a product of Canada or Mexico based on the application of either rule, then the good is subject to the 25% duty with very few exceptions (e.g. donations, informational materials, energy resources defined above)

Also, note this time around de minimis treatment is still available, at least temporarily, for shipments valued under $800.00 USD.  However, duty drawback remains unavailable as it pertains to these additional tariffs.

Finally, the president has signed an Executive Order revising the previous order from last month by increasing the duty rate on Chinese goods by 10%.  Accordingly, most Chinese goods are now subject to additional duty of 20%.  All other applicable duties continue to apply.  The Executive Order is unclear as to an effective date, but all should operate under the assumption the effective date is the same as that for Canada and Mexico until clarification is provided.

The Annexes to the Presidential Proclamations pertaining to the Steel and Aluminum tariffs, which contain the lists of additional HTS numbers for steel and aluminum derivatives which will be subject to additional duty, have been officially published in the Federal Register.

The list of additional aluminum derivative articles can be found here: Additional Aluminum Derivatives . The Annex can be found at the end of the publication.

The list of additional steel derivative articles can be found here: Additional Steel Derivatives .

The Annex can be found at the end of the publication.

As it pertains to the aluminum derivatives listed in the corresponding Annex, for any article NOT classified in chapter 76 of the HTSUS, the additional duty shall be effective “upon public notification by the Secretary of Commerce that adequate systems are in place to fully, efficiently, and expediently process and collect tariff revenue” for those articles. However, for such articles, the duty shall only be charged on the aluminum content of the derivative article. We have no further information as to the effective date of this clause of the proclamation.

For any article that IS classified in chapter 76 in the aforementioned Annex, it would appear based upon the text of the proclamation, that the duty will be effective as of March 12, 2025 at 12:01 am. However, we await further clarification on this.

In any event, it is important to note that the duty “shall not apply to derivative aluminum articles processed in another country from aluminum articles that were smelted and cast in the United States.” Further, all imports of derivative aluminum articles specified in Annex I that are a product of Russia or where any amount of primary aluminum used in manufacturing the article is smelted in Russia, are subject to a duty rate of 200%.

As it pertains to the steel derivatives listed in Annex I to that proclamation, for any derivative steel article identified in the Annex that is not classified in chapter 73 of the HTSUS, the additional duty shall only apply to the steel content of the article. Similar to aluminum, if the derivative steel article is processed in another country from steel that was melted and poured in the United States, the derivative article is exempt from the additional duty.

Based upon the text of the steel proclamation, it appears that the duty on the additional steel derivative articles specified in the corresponding Annex will be effective “upon public notification by the Secretary of Commerce, that adequate systems are in place to fully, efficiently, and expediently process and collect tariff revenue for covered articles” whether or not the derivative article is classified in chapter 73. In other words, it appears there is a slight different between the aluminum and steel proclamations in this respect.

Again, we have no further information or insight as to when “public notification by the Secretary of Commerce” will occur as it pertains to aluminum derivative articles not classified in chapter 76, or all steel derivative articles specified in the Annex. We will advise once we do.