Tariff WatchSection 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, codified at 19 U.S.C. 1862, allows the President to adjust imports of an article the Secretary of Commerce has found is being imported in quantities or under circumstances that threaten to impair the national security. Six such actions reach imports today.
How the authority works
An investigation, a finding, and a proclamation.
The Secretary of Commerce investigates an article and reports to the President on whether it is being imported in a way that threatens to impair the national security. The report is due within 270 days. The President then has 90 days to decide whether to concur and, if so, to determine the nature and duration of the action, and a further 15 days to implement it.
The action is imposed by proclamation, which amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule by adding headings to subchapter III of chapter 99. Those headings carry the additional rate and name the provisions it reaches. The duty is collected on entry alongside the ordinary rate for the classification.
Scope is set by the proclamation and by the U.S. notes to subchapter III, not by the article description alone. A derivative article several chapters away from the metal it contains can be in scope where the note enumerates its provision.
What is in force
Six actions, each with its own heading group and rate.
- Steel, aluminum and copper. Heading group 9903.82, from 4 June 2025. Fifty percent on the covered articles, and twenty-five percent on some derivatives. The duty has fallen on the full customs value rather than the metal content since 6 April 2026. Proclamation 11021.
- Automobiles and automobile parts. Heading group 9903.94, from 3 April 2025, at twenty-five percent. Proclamation 10908. The parts list is enumerated in U.S. note 33(g), and an article in that list that is not in fact a vehicle part is entered under heading 9903.94.06, which adds nothing.
- Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Heading group 9903.74, from 1 November 2025. Twenty-five percent on the vehicles and their parts, ten percent on buses. Proclamation 10984.
- Softwood timber and lumber. Heading group 9903.76, from 14 October 2025, at ten percent, with upholstered wooden furniture and kitchen cabinets at twenty-five under separate headings in the same action. Proclamation 10976.
- Semiconductors. Heading group 9903.79, from 15 January 2026, at twenty-five percent. Proclamation 11002. The covered-product scope is narrow: U.S. note 39(b) reaches only articles meeting stated processing-performance and DRAM-bandwidth parameters.
- Drones and unmanned aircraft. Announced with a start date of 3 September 2026. One hundred percent above 25kg or where the aircraft carries thermal imaging, twenty-five percent at or under 25kg. Announced is not the same as collectible; the rate is shown as pending until the heading is in force.
How it combines
Additive, with named exceptions.
A Section 232 duty adds to the Column 1 rate for the classification and to any other trade remedy that reaches the same article, each computed on the same customs value. There is no compounding.
The exceptions are specific and documented rather than general. Executive Order 14289 provides that the automobile action displaces the steel and aluminum actions on the same article. U.S. note 38(a) does the same for the medium- and heavy-duty vehicle action, and U.S. note 39(a) for semiconductors, which displaces the vehicle, parts and metals actions and the reciprocal duties.
A trade agreement claim does not remove a Section 232 duty. The claim replaces the Column 1 rate; the remedy is assessed on origin and content rather than on preference eligibility.
Related
Elsewhere on this site.