China Section 301 alerts

Which Section 301 exclusion headings still cover entries filed today

As of the July 30, 2026 source check, only two China Section 301 exclusion headings still cover goods entered for consumption — 9903.88.69 and 9903.88.70 — and both stop applying to entries made after 11:59 p.m. eastern daylight time on November 9, 2026. That single date is the one an importer relying on an exclusion has to plan around, because when a heading lapses the entry reverts to the full Section 301 overlay on top of the ordinary duty rate, with no transition period. Two independent official sources agree on it. USTR's determination at 90 FR 55232 (December 1, 2025) extended 178 then-current exclusions "through 11:59 p.m. eastern daylight time on November 9, 2026" and amended both headings' article descriptions to say so; the live USITC Chapter 99 export, checked against 2026 HTS Revision 13 on July 30, 2026, now reads "on or after June 15, 2024 and through November 9, 2026" for 9903.88.69 and "on or after January 1, 2024, and through November 9, 2026" for 9903.88.70, each returning the entry to "the duty provided in the applicable subheading." One wording trap is worth knowing if you compare sources: the narrative section of the USTR notice says the exclusions run "until November 10, 2026," while the DATES section and both annexes — the operative text that actually amended the tariff schedule — say through 11:59 p.m. on November 9. They describe the same cutoff, and the schedule itself was amended to November 9, so that is the date to file against. USTR also stated it "may continue to consider further extensions and/or additional modifications as appropriate," so a further extension is possible but is not something to assume; in this program the extension notice has historically landed within weeks of the expiry, not months ahead.

Why an exclusion heading can be live for your list and still not help your code

Section 301 exclusions are not granted sitewide across the program — each exclusion heading is written into the carve-out list of specific rate headings, so the same live heading protects different lists differently. Checked directly against the USITC Chapter 99 export on July 30, 2026: 9903.88.69 appears in the "Except as provided in" list of all four rate headings — 9903.88.01 (List 1), 9903.88.02 (List 2), 9903.88.03 (List 3) and 9903.88.15 (List 4A) — so it has to be checked whichever list a code sits on. 9903.88.70 appears in the carve-out list of 9903.88.02 alone, which means a List 1, List 3 or List 4A code cannot claim relief under it no matter how well the product matches a description. Membership in the carve-out list is only the first gate. The scope of each exclusion is set by the ten-digit statistical reporting numbers and product descriptions in the U.S. note 20 subdivisions the heading points to — 20(vvv)(i) through 20(vvv)(iv) for 9903.88.69 and 20(www) for 9903.88.70 — so an 8-digit HTS match is a reason to read the note, not a finding of eligibility. Most exclusion headings are product-description specific rather than code-wide, which is why two importers filing the same 8-digit subheading can legitimately reach different answers. CBP issues the entry guidance and implementation instructions separately from USTR's notice, so confirm the reporting rules for your entry date with the CSMS message your broker files against.

How the China Section 301 lists and Chapter 99 overlays are structured in 2026

The China Section 301 actions are layered on top of the Column 1 General rate through Chapter 99 of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule, not by editing the chapter that classifies your product. Lists 1, 2, and 3 add a 25% ad valorem duty via Chapter 99 headings 9903.88.01, 9903.88.02, and 9903.88.03 respectively. List 4A adds 7.5% via 9903.88.15 — originally announced at 15% and reduced to 7.5% effective February 14, 2020 under the U.S.-China Phase One Agreement. Many subheadings have one or more product-specific exclusions with their own Chapter 99 headings and expiration dates. A saved 8-digit HTS code alone is not enough to determine your overlay; you also need to confirm which list applies to your subheading, whether an active exclusion covers your product description, and the controlling entry date.

How to find the latest USTR Section 301 Federal Register announcement

A China Section 301 change becomes legally operative when USTR publishes a notice in the Federal Register and CBP issues the matching entry-filing instructions — not when it is first reported in the trade press — so the authoritative way to see the latest action is to read the primary sources directly. Three official surfaces carry the newest information. The Federal Register's Office of the United States Trade Representative agency page timestamps every USTR notice on its publication date and is the controlling record for new actions, modifications, exclusions, and effective dates. USTR's Section 301 tariff-actions and four-year-review pages post initiation notices, request-window dates, and any continuation or termination determinations. CBP's Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) publishes the operational instructions — the controlling Chapter 99 heading, effective date, and reporting rules — that a customs broker actually files against. A single announcement usually spans all three: the Federal Register notice sets the legal change, USTR frames the policy, and the CBP CSMS message tells your broker how to report it. As of the July 7, 2026 source check, the most recent USTR Federal Register document touching the China Section 301 program is the May 6, 2026 initiation of the second four-year review (2026-08806), and no continuation or termination determination for the July 6, 2018 action (List 1) has posted since its request window closed on July 5, 2026. Because the Federal Register publishes on business days rather than continuously, a daily saved-code check is the practical way to catch a change close to when it posts and route it to the person who can act before the next shipment moves.

What changed in 2026 and why a saved-code alert is the right tool

USTR opened a second statutory four-year review of the China Section 301 actions on May 6, 2026 (Federal Register 2026-08806). Domestic-industry continuation requests can be filed May 7 to July 5, 2026 for the July 6, 2018 action and June 24 to August 22, 2026 for the August 23, 2018 action. List 1 traces to the July 6 action and List 2 to the August 23 action; the notice also treats List 3, List 4A, first-review modifications, and exclusions as modifications currently in effect, so importers should not map every list to a single deadline without checking the controlling Chapter 99 heading and source notice. The initiation notice does not by itself raise, lower, add, or remove any duty rate or exclusion. Any change will arrive in separate USTR and Federal Register notices spread across a long review window — and the first four-year review (2022-2024) ended in targeted modifications and a machinery exclusion process rather than full removal of the tariffs. A saved-code alert is the right tool here because a code that looked safe one quarter can become expensive before the next shipment, and the published changes will not arrive on a single dated event. The alert is a review trigger, not a substitute for confirming Chapter 99 treatment, exclusion eligibility, and entry-date rules in the official source.

July 2026 watch point for the List 1 continuation window

The July 6, 2018 action (List 1) continuation-request window closed at 11:59 p.m. on July 5, 2026, and July 6, 2026 is the statutory date on which that action would terminate absent a qualifying continuation request. As of the July 19, 2026 source check, USTR's public four-year-review page still lists only the May 6 initiation notice for the second review and shows no continuation or termination announcement for the July 6, 2018 action, and none has appeared in the Federal Register. That gap is expected: in the first four-year review the equivalent "Continuation of Actions" notice did not publish until September 8, 2022 (87 FR 55073), 65 days after the same docket closed, and it stated retroactively that the action had not terminated on its anniversary. Do not read the passing of the July 6 date as a rate change in either direction; keep applying the List 1 overlay and use this as a source-check trigger for USTR and Federal Register notices before changing landed-cost assumptions.

Section 301 exclusion heading lookup — status as of July 30, 2026

Every Chapter 99 subchapter III exclusion heading in the 9903.88 range that states its own effective window, with the rate headings whose carve-out list names it. Retrieved from the live USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule export for 2026 HTS Revision 13 on July 30, 2026.

Exclusion headings 9903.88.05 through 9903.88.49, plus .51, .53 and .55, state no window in the heading text itself — their effective and expiration dates live in the U.S. note 20 subdivision each one references, so read that note rather than inferring a status from this table. This lookup shows which heading could apply and when; it does not establish that your product qualifies. Eligibility is set by the ten-digit statistical reporting numbers and product descriptions in the referenced U.S. note 20 subdivision, and CBP publishes the entry-filing instructions separately. Open the current Chapter 99 subchapter III for the entry date that controls your shipment before making a filing or landed-cost decision.