1. MFN / General Duty Rate

The baseline rate tied directly to your HTS classification. This is what most people mean when they say “the tariff for my product.” It applies broadly and doesn’t change based on current events — it’s the floor, not the full picture.

2. Section 301 (Trade Act of 1974)

Section 301 lets the U.S. Trade Representative impose tariffs on countries found to engage in unfair trade practices. There are currently two active generations of Section 301 action:

The original China-specific tariff lists dating to 2018–2019, covering a wide range of Chinese-origin goods at varying rates (these have been in place for years and are considered one of the most legally durable tariff tools available).

A new, broader action that took effect July 24, 2026, applying 10–12.5% tariffs to imports from 60 economies based on findings related to forced labor in supply chains — with modified, capped rates for the EU, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Switzerland. This is the “USTR July action” that added a new layer on top of an already complex system.

3. Section 232 (Trade Expansion Act of 1962)

Section 232 lets the president restrict imports the Commerce Department finds threaten national security. Unlike Section 301, it’s applied by product category rather than by country, and it has expanded well beyond its original steel and aluminum scope. As of mid-2026, active or recently effective Section 232 actions cover steel, aluminum, and copper (up to 50% on primary metals), automobiles and auto parts (25%), medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and buses, lumber and wood products including furniture components (10–50% depending on the item), semiconductors (25% on advanced computing chips), and pharmaceuticals (up to 100% on certain patented products). Additional Section 232 investigations covering aircraft and jet engines, polysilicon, drones, wind turbines, medical equipment, and robotics were pending decisions as of mid-2026 — meaning this list is still growing.

4. Antidumping and Countervailing Duties (AD/CVD)

These are separate, older tools that apply to specific products from specific countries — and sometimes specific companies — found to be sold in the U.S. below fair value (dumping) or unfairly subsidized by their home government (countervailing). AD/CVD orders are investigated and set individually by the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission, and they stack on top of whatever other duties already apply. Rates vary widely by case, sometimes reaching well above 100%.

5. IEEPA-Based Tariffs — Now Ended

For much of 2025 and early 2026, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) was used as the legal basis for two major tariff programs: fentanyl-related tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada, and broad “reciprocal” tariffs applied to most U.S. trading partners. On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that IEEPA does not grant the president authority to impose tariffs, invalidating both programs. CBP stopped collecting IEEPA-based duties within hours of the ruling, and a refund process was established for affected importers. IEEPA tariffs are worth knowing about mainly because they explain why some 2025-era duty rates you may have seen referenced no longer apply — but the legal fight over related authority isn’t entirely over (see Section 122, below).

6. Section 122 — Used, Then Expired

Almost immediately after the Supreme Court struck down IEEPA tariffs, the administration invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — a narrower authority allowing temporary tariffs of up to 15% for a maximum of 150 days to address balance-of-payments concerns — to impose a 10% global tariff effective February 24, 2026. In May 2026, the Court of International Trade ruled that this use of Section 122 was also unlawful, but limited relief to the specific plaintiffs in that case; the government appealed and secured a stay, so most importers kept paying the tariff regardless of the ruling. The question became largely moot when Section 122’s statutory 150-day limit expired on its own on July 24, 2026 — the same date the new Section 301 forced-labor tariffs took effect and effectively took over that role.

Other tools that exist but are rarely used: Section 201 safeguard tariffs (global, product-specific, used historically for goods like solar panels and washing machines) and Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (broad authority against countries that discriminate against U.S. commerce, never actually invoked in nearly a century). Both are worth knowing exist, even though they’re not currently driving most import decisions.