The new Section 301 duty: 60 countries, not just China.

For years, "Section 301" meant one thing to importers: China. That is no longer true.

In March 2026, USTR opened 60 investigations. They asked one question of each trading partner: does it ban imports made with forced labor, and does it enforce that ban? On 23 July it acted on all 60 at once. The duty replaced the temporary Section 122 surcharge, which ended the same night.

The result is simple to state and easy to get wrong. Nearly everything you import now carries a second layer, on top of the normal duty. How big that layer is depends only on where the goods come from.

The rate for every country

There are three groups. Find yours.

How it works	Economies
+10% on top of the normal duty	Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom
+12.5% on top of the normal duty	Algeria, Angola, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Guyana, Hong Kong, Iraq, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam
A floor not an addition	European Union and Taiwan: at least 10% in total. Japan, South Korea and Switzerland: at least 12.5% in total.

The third group is the one people misread. For the EU, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland, the duty is not added on top. If the normal rate is already at or above the floor, nothing changes. If it is below, the total is raised to the floor. Italian ceramic tableware under 6912.00.48 has a normal rate of 9.8%. From Italy it now pays a combined 10%, not 19.8%.

What it does to one shipment

Take $10,000 of men's cotton T-shirts, HTS 6109.10.00. The normal duty is 16.5%. Here is the same order from five countries.

Origin	Normal	Added	Total	Duty
Germany	16.5%	none, above the 10% floor	16.5%	$1,650
India	16.5%	+10% · 9903.05.44	26.5%	$2,650
Bangladesh	16.5%	+10% · 9903.05.26	26.5%	$2,650
Vietnam	16.5%	+12.5% · 9903.05.84	29%	$2,900
China	16.5%	+7.5% · 9903.88.15 +12.5% · 9903.05.31	36.5%	$3,650

Duty only; fees such as MPF and HMF are not included. Rates as answered by the Falmoran engine on 15 Oct 2026. Not legal advice; a licensed customs broker files the entry.

Look at China. The old Section 301 duty (List 4A, 7.5% here) did not go away. The new one stacks on top of it. Two Section 301 lines on one entry is now normal for Chinese goods.

Look at Vietnam too. Many importers moved there to get away from China tariffs. On this T-shirt, Vietnam now pays more than India or Bangladesh.

What is left out

Not every product pays. The main exemptions are written into the tariff itself:

• Goods already under Section 232. Steel, aluminum and copper articles, cars and light trucks and their parts, and the other 232 families pay 232 instead, not both.
• A list of products by code. Many foods are on it. Coffee, tea and pepper, for example: roasted coffee from Vietnam (0901.21.00) pays nothing extra under 9903.05.86.
• USMCA goods. Goods of Canada or Mexico entered duty-free under USMCA are exempt. That makes the USMCA claim worth far more than it used to be.
• CAFTA-DR textiles entered under that agreement, plus donations, informational materials and civil aircraft parts.

Each exemption has its own Chapter 99 number, and it has to be on the entry. If the number is missing, you pay the duty.

What to do this week

Three checks are worth doing now:

• Pull your top 20 products by value and add the forced-labor line to each landed cost. The change is often larger than people expect.
• If you buy from Canada or Mexico, confirm the USMCA claim is on every line that qualifies.
• If you buy from the EU, Japan, Korea, Switzerland or Taiwan, check which of your codes sit under the floor. Those are the ones that went up.