Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) Changes for 2026

What the annual HTSUS update actually is

The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States is republished annually by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) under the statutory authority of 19 U.S.C. Section 3006, which sets the framework for the USITC’s role in publishing and maintaining the HTSUS as the U.S. adaptation of the World Customs Organization Harmonized System. The annual republication carries a USITC Publication number and consolidates every change that took legal effect during the prior calendar year: presidential proclamations under Section 232 and Section 301, statutory amendments from Congress, WCO nomenclature updates adopted by the U.S., exclusion additions and expirations from USTR and BIS, technical corrections, and any court-ordered modifications. USITC also issues mid-year revisions when necessary (numbered Revision 1, Revision 2, and so on through the calendar year), each with its own USITC Publication number and effective date.

The legally-controlling text is the version of the HTSUS in force on the date of entry filing under 19 CFR Part 141. That means the “2026 HTSUS” is not a single frozen document; it is the January baseline plus every intervening revision, and importers filing entries in September 2026 are bound to the September-effective text. The USITC website at hts.usitc.gov shows the current-effective version; historical versions are archived under the USITC Publications page for retrospective audits and litigation.

The 2026 HTSUS baseline (USITC Publication 5556)

The 2026 HTSUS baseline was published by USITC in January 2026 as the annual republication and is referenced in this page as USITC Publication 5556 (the current-year reference publication used for the 2026 baseline documentation). The baseline consolidates every 2025 modification and carries forward the HS 2022 nomenclature adopted at the international level by the WCO. Baseline duty rates for the general column (Column 1) reflect the applied Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) rate; the special column reflects preferential-tariff-program rates for USMCA, Israel FTA, and other agreements; Column 2 reflects the statutory rates applied to imports from a small set of designated countries not eligible for MFN treatment.

Chapter-level structure for 2026 continues the 99-chapter framework: Chapters 1 through 97 are the WCO-harmonized commodity chapters, Chapter 98 covers U.S.-specific special-classification provisions (U.S. Goods Returned, Temporary Importation Under Bond, articles for the U.S. government, and so on), and Chapter 99 covers temporary legislation and additional-tariff programs (Section 232, Section 301, IEEPA measures, quotas). The Chapter 99 headings are the primary vehicle for the year-over-year changes discussed below, because Chapter 99 is where Congress and the President layer additional-tariff programs on top of the Chapter 1-97 baseline rates.

Chapter 99 additions and expirations in 2026

Chapter 99 of the HTSUS is subdivided into Subchapter II (temporary legislation, including the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill provisions) and Subchapter III (additional-tariff programs, including Section 232 aluminum and steel, Section 301 China lists, IEEPA-based tariffs, and USMCA-related additional duties). The 9903 heading series within Subchapter III is where the year-over-year change activity concentrates:

9903.85 series (Section 232 steel). The 2026 baseline continues the 25 percent Section 232 duty on steel articles from most origins, with country-specific quotas and exclusions for Argentina, Brazil, and South Korea. The August 6 2026 BIS proposal (FR 2026-15961) targets 14 derivative-article HTSUS headings for addition to the Section 232 scope; final inclusion notice expected after the August 27 2026 comment window closes.
9903.85.03 through 9903.85.09 (Section 232 aluminum). The 10 percent Section 232 duty on aluminum articles continues in 2026, with the derivative-articles list similarly subject to the FR 2026-15961 proposal.
9903.88 series (Section 301 China). The four China tariff lists (List 1 at 25 percent, List 2 at 25 percent, List 3 at 25 percent, List 4A at 7.5 percent) continue in 2026. USTR exclusion decisions periodically add or expire specific 8-digit headings from the additional-tariff coverage; the 2026 exclusion expiration wave is discussed at the exclusions section below.
9903.94 series (IEEPA-based). Any additional tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) during 2026 attach through the 9903.94 series; importers must check the current CSMS messages for the latest activity.

Presidential proclamations affecting 2026 rates

Presidential proclamations under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232), the Trade Act of 1974 (Section 301), and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) are the primary vehicle for year-over-year modifications to Chapter 99 additional-tariff programs. Each proclamation is published in the Federal Register with a specific effective date and a citation to the underlying statutory authority. The 2026 proclamations that affected rates are listed in the References section below with their Federal Register citation numbers.

The pattern for a proclamation-based modification is: (a) the President issues a proclamation citing findings by the Secretary of Commerce (Section 232), USTR (Section 301), or the President’s own IEEPA declaration; (b) the proclamation is published in the Federal Register with an effective date; (c) CBP issues a Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) message with the operational implementation guidance (Chapter 99 heading assignments, HTSUS coding, exclusion procedures); (d) USITC updates the HTSUS text at hts.usitc.gov to reflect the proclamation as a revision to the annual baseline. Importers must not rely solely on the annual baseline text; every intervening proclamation between January and the date of entry is legally binding.

Section 232 derivative-articles proposal (FR 2026-15961)

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published Federal Register notice 2026-15961 on August 6 2026, proposing 14 derivative articles for inclusion under the existing Section 232 aluminum and steel tariffs at 25 percent ad valorem. The proposal cites the underlying Section 232 authority (19 U.S.C. Section 1862) and the standard used to determine whether a downstream article qualifies as a derivative of the primary metal (that imports of the derivative article circumvent the underlying tariff by embedding the primary metal in the downstream form). The 14 proposed HTSUS headings span Chapters 73 (iron and steel articles) and 76 (aluminum articles).

The public comment window closes August 27 2026. After the close, BIS reviews public comments, drafts the final inclusion notice, and publishes in the Federal Register. Historical practice on comparable BIS 232 notices puts the final publication typically two to eight weeks after the comment close, with the additional duty effective the day after final publication. Importers whose products fall under one of the 14 proposed HTSUS headings should file a substantive comment; the TariffWatch inclusion-rebuttal service at /tariffwatch/inclusion-rebuttal drafts the filing-ready substantive comment for $99. Importers who want to check whether a specific 10-digit HTSUS code hits the 14 proposed derivative-article headings should use the free tool at /tariffwatch/hts-checker.

Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status

The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is the U.S. preferential-tariff program that provides duty-free treatment for eligible articles from designated beneficiary developing countries. GSP has been lapsed since December 31 2020, when the last authorizing legislation (the GSP Reauthorization Act of 2018) expired. As of the 2026 annual update, Congress has not reauthorized GSP. That means duty-free treatment under GSP is unavailable for entries filed during the current lapse; importers of GSP-eligible articles must pay the MFN rate under Column 1 general.

Retroactive reinstatement is procedurally possible. Prior GSP lapses (2011, 2013, 2017-2018) were retroactively reauthorized by Congress, with importers eligible for refunds of duties paid during the lapse period on GSP-eligible articles that were coded correctly on the entry. Importers filing entries in 2026 for articles from GSP-eligible countries under GSP-eligible tariff items should code the entry per current CBP CSMS guidance to preserve the retroactive-refund option in the event of Congressional reauthorization. The CBP CSMS message on GSP coding during the lapse is the operational guidance source; the coding is a Special Program Indicator on the entry summary that flags the article as GSP-eligible-if-reauthorized.

USMCA rules-of-origin clarifications for 2026

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) entered into force on July 1 2020 and set a schedule of phased-in rules-of-origin thresholds for the automotive sector, tracked at the 8-digit tariff-item level under the product-specific rules of origin in USMCA Chapter 4 and Annex 4-B. The 2026 baseline continues the phased-in automotive Regional Value Content (RVC) requirements: passenger vehicles and light trucks require 75 percent RVC (up from 62.5 percent under NAFTA), core parts require 75 percent, principal parts 70 percent, complementary parts 65 percent. The Labor Value Content (LVC) requirement is at the full phased-in level for 2026 (40 percent of a passenger vehicle’s content must be made by workers earning at least $16 per hour).

The USMCA also includes a steel and aluminum purchase requirement (70 percent of the vehicle producer’s North American steel and aluminum purchases must be sourced from within the USMCA region). Textile and apparel articles remain under the yarn-forward rule (yarn, fabric, and cutting must all occur in the USMCA region), with a short-supply list of textile inputs available from outside the region on a case-by-case basis. The USMCA joint review scheduled for July 2026 under Article 34.7 of the agreement can result in agreed amendments effective in later years; importers should track USTR announcements on the joint-review outcome. U.S. implementation of USMCA is at 19 CFR Part 182; certification-of-origin documentation is required per 19 CFR Section 182.12 for every entry claiming USMCA preferential treatment.

2026 exclusion expirations (Section 301 and Section 232)

USTR-issued Section 301 exclusions and BIS-issued Section 232 exclusions carry expiration dates published in the Federal Register at the time each exclusion wave was issued. Several waves of Section 301 exclusions from 2020 and 2021 have expiration dates within calendar year 2026, and USTR has not consistently reissued expired exclusions. That produces the operationally-common surprise: an importer who has been filing entries under an exclusion for two or three years finds on the first post-expiration entry that CBP is assessing the underlying additional Section 301 duty because the exclusion has quietly expired.

The Section 232 exclusion structure operates similarly. BIS issues product-specific exclusions through the 232 Exclusions Portal with defined expiration dates, and reissuance requires a new exclusion request rather than automatic renewal. Machinery articles under Chapter 84 heading 8479 (machinery having individual functions, not specified elsewhere) have seen a notable wave of Section 232 derivative-article exclusion expirations during 2025 and 2026. Importers with active exclusions on any HTSUS heading should build the expiration date into the tracking calendar; the practical rule is that no exclusion is safe until reissued.

How to track future changes yourself

The primary sources for HTSUS change tracking are all free and publicly accessible. The four that a compliance team should have in a daily-review workflow:

Federal Register (federalregister.gov). Every proclamation, USTR exclusion decision, and BIS 232 action is published here first. The Federal Register offers RSS feeds and email alerts filtered by agency (USTR, BIS, Commerce) and topic; setting up the agency-level RSS feeds is the single highest-leverage change-tracking action.
CBP Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS). CBP issues CSMS messages with the operational implementation guidance for every Chapter 99 modification: HTSUS coding, exclusion procedures, entry-summary requirements. CSMS messages are the operational bridge between the Federal Register proclamation and the actual filing at the port. Subscribe via content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCBP.
USITC Publications page (usitc.gov/tariff_affairs/tariff_publications.htm). USITC posts every annual republication and mid-year revision with the publication number and effective date. Bookmarking the Publications page and checking it monthly catches mid-year revisions that do not always generate broad trade-press coverage.
USTR and BIS agency pages. USTR maintains a Section 301 investigations page at ustr.gov/issue-areas/enforcement/section-301-investigations and BIS maintains a Section 232 investigations page at bis.doc.gov/index.php/232-investigations. Both agencies publish exclusion decisions and enforcement notices on these pages before the general Federal Register hits.

How TariffWatch monitors these changes

TariffWatch operates three products that shift the change-tracking effort from a manual daily review to an automated alert stream keyed to the importer’s actual HTSUS exposure. The free HTS checker lets an importer paste any 10-digit HTSUS code and immediately see whether it hits the BIS 14 derivative-article list from FR 2026-15961, with a deep-link into the matching inclusion-rebuttal template. The paid HTS watchlist at $29 per month monitors up to 25 specific HTSUS headings per subscription and emails an alert within one hour of any Federal Register notice, USTR exclusion action, BIS 232 action, or CBP CSMS message affecting a watched heading. The CSV import guide documents the batch upload format for compliance teams with hundreds of headings under watch. The combined workflow means an importer who is monitoring the right headings gets the alert before the entry filing rather than after the CBP audit.

The pricing tiers reflect the workload asymmetry between quick lookups and continuous monitoring. The free HTS checker covers the “is my code in the current 14?” question for the one-off importer. The $29/mo watchlist covers the ongoing question for a small importer with a manageable HTSUS footprint. The $99 inclusion-rebuttal service at /tariffwatch/inclusion-rebuttal covers the substantive Federal Register comment when an importer’s heading does land on a proposed inclusion list. Related reading on the underlying HTSUS mechanics is at the beginner classification guide.

FAQ

What does the annual HTSUS update actually include?

The annual Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) update is a republication of the entire schedule by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) at the start of each calendar year, incorporating every change that took legal effect during the prior year: presidential proclamations, statutory amendments, WCO Harmonized System nomenclature changes adopted in the U.S. schedule, Section 232 and Section 301 modifications, exclusion additions and expirations, and any technical corrections. The annual publication carries a USITC Publication number (Publication 5556 was used for the 2026 baseline reference cited in this page). Mid-year revisions are issued when necessary, typically as Revision 1, Revision 2, and so on through the calendar year, each carrying a discrete publication number and effective date. The legally-controlling text is the version in force on the date of entry filing under 19 CFR Part 141, so importers must track both the annual baseline and every revision.

Where does the WCO 5-year revision cycle fit into the HTSUS?

The World Customs Organization (WCO) revises the international Harmonized System (HS) nomenclature roughly every five years; the last major revision was HS 2022, and HS 2027 is scheduled to take effect on January 1 2027. The U.S. adopts WCO revisions through a Presidential Proclamation and USITC investigation process, typically publishing conforming amendments to the HTSUS in the fourth quarter of the year before the WCO effective date. For 2026 the WCO baseline remains HS 2022 as adopted in the HTSUS; HS 2027 conforming amendments are expected in late 2026 with January 1 2027 effect. Importers should not assume the 2026 HTSUS baseline will remain unchanged into 2027; the HS 2027 transition will renumber several thousand subheadings across chapters.

What is the status of Section 301 China tariffs in 2026?

The Section 301 tariffs on imports from China originally imposed under Presidential Proclamations in 2018 and 2019 remain in force for 2026, implemented through subheadings under Chapter 99 (specifically the 9903.88 series). USTR periodically publishes exclusion decisions in the Federal Register that add or expire specific 8-digit HTSUS headings from the additional-tariff coverage; importers must check the exclusion status of every 8-digit heading against the current USTR exclusion list before assuming Section 301 exposure. Several waves of exclusions issued in 2020 and 2021 have expired during 2025 and 2026, and USTR has not consistently reissued them, meaning some articles that were exclusion-covered as recently as 2024 are now back inside the additional-tariff scope. The USTR Section 301 exclusion tracker is the primary source for the current expiration schedule.

What did BIS propose in Federal Register notice 2026-15961?

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published Federal Register notice 2026-15961 on August 6 2026, proposing 14 derivative articles for inclusion under existing Section 232 aluminum and steel tariffs at 25 percent ad valorem. The proposal is a request for public comment on whether the 14 named HTSUS headings meet the derivative-article criteria under Section 232 (that the imports circumvent the underlying steel or aluminum tariff by embedding the primary metal in a downstream article). The public comment window closes August 27 2026. After the comment window BIS will review submissions, and the final inclusion notice will be published in the Federal Register with an effective date the day after publication. Importers whose products fall under one of the 14 proposed HTSUS headings should file a substantive comment; the inclusion-rebuttal service at TariffWatch drafts the substantive filing for $99.

What is the current status of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)?

The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the U.S. preferential-tariff program for developing countries, has been lapsed since December 31 2020, when the last authorizing legislation expired. Congress has not reauthorized GSP as of the 2026 annual update, meaning duty-free treatment under GSP is unavailable for entries filed during the lapse. Retroactive reinstatement is procedurally possible: prior GSP lapses (2011, 2013, 2017) were retroactively reauthorized, with importers eligible for refunds of duties paid during the lapse period on GSP-eligible articles. Importers filing entries for GSP-eligible articles during the current lapse should code the entry per CBP guidance to preserve the retroactive-refund option if reauthorization occurs; the coding is documented in current CBP Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) messages.

What USMCA rules-of-origin changes are in effect for 2026?

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) rules of origin are set in USMCA Chapter 4 and the product-specific rules annexed to the agreement, with U.S. implementation in 19 CFR Part 182. The 2026 baseline continues the phased-in requirements for automotive labor-value-content (raising the Regional Value Content thresholds and the labor-value-content thresholds year by year), the steel and aluminum purchase requirements for qualifying automotive producers, and the textile yarn-forward and short-supply-list rules. The scheduled USMCA joint review is set for July 2026 under Article 34.7 of the agreement; the review can result in agreed amendments effective in later years. Importers relying on USMCA preferential treatment must confirm the current-year Regional Value Content threshold applicable to their product category and maintain the certification-of-origin documentation required under 19 CFR Section 182.12.

Which Section 301 and Section 232 exclusions expire during 2026?

Several waves of Section 301 exclusions issued by USTR in 2020 and 2021 have expiration dates falling within calendar year 2026, published in the Federal Register at the time each wave was issued. The pattern is that USTR issued exclusions with defined expiration dates (typically one to two years after issuance) and the reissuance pattern has been inconsistent. Section 232 exclusions issued by the Department of Commerce for specific steel and aluminum articles also carry expiration dates and are not automatically reissued. Importers should not assume any exclusion in force during 2024 or 2025 remains in force during 2026; the USTR exclusion tracker (Section 301) and the BIS 232 Exclusions Portal (Section 232) are the current-status sources. Missing an exclusion expiration is one of the most common ways an importer discovers unexpected retrospective duty exposure on a CBP audit.

How does TariffWatch help importers keep up with HTS changes?

TariffWatch operates three products aimed directly at the change-tracking problem this page describes. The free HTS checker at /tariffwatch/hts-checker lets an importer paste a 10-digit HTSUS code and immediately see whether it hits the BIS 14 derivative-article list from FR 2026-15961. The paid watchlist at /tariffwatch/watchlist is a $29/month monitoring service that watches specific HTSUS headings (up to 25 per subscription) and emails an alert within one hour of a Federal Register notice, USTR exclusion action, or BIS 232 action affecting a watched heading. The CSV import guide at /tariffwatch/csv-import-hts-guide-2026 documents the batch upload format for importers who need to check hundreds of headings at once. The combined workflow moves the change-tracking effort from a monthly manual sweep of the Federal Register to an automated alert stream keyed to the importer’s actual HTSUS exposure.

References and primary sources

19 U.S.C. Section 3006 — Harmonized System publication and modification framework.
19 U.S.C. Section 1202 — Harmonized Tariff Schedule statutory authority.
19 U.S.C. Section 1862 — Section 232 national-security tariffs.
19 CFR Part 141 — Entry of merchandise regulations.
19 CFR Part 182 — USMCA implementation regulations.
U.S. International Trade Commission — Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTSUS).
USITC Publications page — Tariff publications and revisions.
Federal Register — Proclamations, USTR notices, BIS notices.
USTR Section 301 investigations — Section 301 exclusion tracker.
BIS Section 232 investigations — Section 232 exclusion and derivative-articles portal.
CBP CSMS — Cargo Systems Messaging Service subscriptions.
USMCA agreement text — USTR USMCA page (Chapter 4 rules of origin).
Federal Register notice 2026-15961 — BIS Section 232 derivative-articles proposal (August 6 2026, comment window closes August 27 2026).
Related reading — HTS classification guide for beginners (2026).
Related reading — CSV import for HTS batch checks (2026).
Related reading — Section 232 inclusion-rebuttal service ($99).

TariffWatch is a data and workflow tool that estimates Section 232 tariff exposure from publicly available Federal Register, USITC, and CBP data. TariffWatch is NOT a licensed customs broker under 19 CFR 111, NOT a filer of record, and NOT a legal-advice service. This is not customs classification advice. Compliance decisions remain the responsibility of the importer and their customs broker or trade attorney. TariffWatch does not guarantee that any classification, exposure estimate, or comment letter will be accepted by CBP, BIS, or Commerce.

TariffWatch is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), or the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC).

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