The TariffWatch weekly digest is a Monday-morning email that consolidates every rate change, Federal Register notice, and adjacency signal that touched a watchlist code in the previous seven days. This guide walks each field on the digest and how to triage it in five minutes.
Digest header: watchlist size and coverage window
The first line of the email tells you how many HTS codes are on your watchlist, the number of Federal Register notices scanned, and the coverage window (Monday 00:00 UTC of the previous week through Sunday 23:59 UTC). If your watchlist is empty (new account, or you archived everything and forgot), the digest still sends but the body says "No HTS codes on watchlist" with a link to add some via the adding HTS codes walkthrough.
Section 1: Direct hits
The first content block lists every notice that mentioned an HTS code on your watchlist by exact 10-digit match. Each row shows the HTS code, the notice title, the publishing agency (BIS, USTR, CPSC, CBP, USITC), the Federal Register document number, the publication date, and a one-sentence machine-generated summary. Every document number links directly to the underlying record at federalregister.gov.
Section 2: Adjacent hits
The second block lists notices that mentioned an HTS code adjacent to one on your watchlist. Adjacency is defined two ways: codes that share your 8-digit tariff-line number, and codes CBP has historically flagged as substitutes on rebuttal letters. Adjacency matters because a BIS proclamation that names your neighbor is a leading indicator that your code may be added on the next revision. Adjacent rows are flagged with the neighbor's HTS code and a confidence label (see below).
Section 3: Rate deltas
If any of your watchlist codes had an MFN rate change, a Section 232 rate change, or a Section 301 rate change during the window, the deltas appear here. The row shows old rate, new rate, effective date, and the underlying Federal Register document number. Rate history is sourced from CBP's HTS revisions and the BIS proclamations published at federalregister.gov agencies/industry-and-security-bureau.
Section 4: Comment periods opening or closing
Every Federal Register notice that opens a public comment period includes a comment deadline. If your watchlist touches the notice, the digest lists the open date, close date, and a link to the regulations.gov docket where you can file. Comment periods typically run 30 to 60 days, and TariffWatch also sends a 7-day-before-close reminder as a separate email.
Section 5: BIS Section 232 exclusion status changes
The BIS Section 232 exclusion portal became read-only Feb 10, 2025; no new exclusions have been granted since. But existing exclusions still have expiration dates. This section lists any exclusion that expires within 60 days, so you can budget for the return of the base Section 232 rate on that HTS code. Historical exclusion detail is archived at BIS's Section 232 archive on bis.gov (linked from the Federal Register notices themselves).
The confidence label
Every row in Sections 2 (adjacent hits) and 5 (exclusion status) carries a confidence label: high, medium, low. High means the underlying notice or record explicitly names the code. Medium means our matcher inferred the code from the surrounding text of a notice (a notice that says "aluminum extrusions" without listing 10-digit codes matches with medium confidence on the codes for aluminum extrusions). Low means the matcher had ambiguous evidence and you should verify by clicking through to the underlying document.
What to do after reading the digest
For direct hits and high-confidence adjacent hits, run the numbers through the Section 232 exposure calculator to see the dollar impact on your typical shipment. If the impact is material relative to your annual COGS, consider filing a comment letter during the open window; the comment letter template article walks the format we use for aluminum-family codes and is a good starting frame for adjacent metals.
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FAQ
Can I change delivery to daily instead of weekly? Yes, from your watchlist settings. Daily is louder; most compliance teams keep the Monday weekly for signal and layer real-time Slack alerts on top for genuinely urgent hits.
What time zone is the digest coverage window? UTC. The digest itself is delivered Monday 08:00 in the account's configured local timezone.
Do you deliver the digest to a shared inbox or Slack? Both. Email to a distribution list works; Slack is supported via a webhook (see webhook Slack setup).
Still stuck? Email support@digitalempireholdings.com or support@digitalempireholdings.com.