Tariff WatchSection 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, codified at 19 U.S.C. 2132, permits a temporary import surcharge of up to fifteen percent to deal with large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits. The authority carries a hard limit: the surcharge expires after 150 days unless extended by Act of Congress.
The 2026 surcharge
Ten percent, from 24 February to 24 July 2026.
Proclamation 11012 of 24 February 2026 imposed a ten percent surcharge under Section 122, reported under headings 9903.03.01 to 9903.03.11. It took effect four days after the Supreme Court held the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize tariffs, and covered goods of any country subject to the exemptions the headings name, among them articles of aluminum, steel and copper already subject to Section 232, civil aircraft, and goods in transit on the effective date.
The surcharge reached its 150-day statutory limit on 24 July 2026 and was not extended. It stopped being collected on that date.
Why it is treated differently from IEEPA
One authority lapsed. The other was held not to exist.
A surcharge that ran its statutory clock was lawfully collected while it ran. That is a materially different position from duties collected under an authority a court has held does not extend to tariffs, and conflating the two would overstate what an importer might recover.
Note also that headings 9903.03.12 through 9903.03.14 sit in the same numeric range but belong to a different action entirely: they are the Section 338 Canada headings, added in August 2026, and are in force.
Related
Elsewhere on this site.