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Understanding the New Tariffs Against Articles from Mexico, Canada, and China: Fast Facts

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has published documents implementing the additional duties against articles of China prescribed by the Executive Orders (EOs) published by President Trump on February 1, 2025. Here are the key facts regarding these new tariffs.

Mexico and Canada

On February 3, 2025, President Trump announced that tariffs against Mexico have been “paused for a one month period.” Mexico is deploying 10,000 soldiers to the US-Mexico Border, and the Secretary of State, Treasury, and Commerce will begin negotiations with representatives from Mexico. On the same day, he announced that the tariffs against Canada would be postponed for 30 days.

Tariffs against China

Chinese goods entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption after 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on February 4, 2025 will be subject to additional tariffs.

Articles from China, including from Hong Kong, will be subject to special tariff 9903.01.20 at 10% ad valorum.

A Time-Sensitive Exception

Chinese goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption after 12:01 a.m. EST on February 4, 2025 “that were loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading, or in transit on the final mode of transport prior to entry into the United States, before 12:01 a.m. eastern time on February 1, 2025” can claim exemption from these new tariffs if an importer indicates an item is qualified by declaring Chinese Tariff 9903.01.23. Since this tariff indicates an exemption by virtue of being in transit when the new tariff went into effect, it can only be claimed between 12:01 a.m. EST on February 4, 2025 and 12:01 a.m. EST on March 7, 2025, after which it is no longer valid.

Further restrictions

Multiple additional restrictions are associated with this new Chinese tariff and will also apply to goods from Mexico and Canada should the postponed tariffs against those countries be implemented at the beginning of march. Several of these are critical to note for importers trying to assess and manage their import duty impact:

Articles subject to these tariffs are not eligible for drawback with respect to the new tariffs

All mail shipments from these countries are subject to formal entries (note this does not apply to personal communications like letters)

Accordingly, goods from these countries may not be entered under the de minimis administrative exemption for articles valued less than $800. This is critical in particular for imports from China given the high volume of de minimis imports from that country

Articles otherwise eligible for duty-free treatment under the US-Mexico-Canada agreement are still subject to the additional tariffs for goods from Canada. This is critical, it hardly needs be said, for imports from Canada and Mexico

Articles declared under Chapter 98 special tariffs will still be duty free, except for those tariffs under heading 9802, in which the articles will be subject with respect to their value added while abroad

Articles entering a foreign trade zone (FTZ) shall be admitted as “privileged foreign status” (except for those admitted under “domestic status”), and will be subject on entry for consumption to these new tariffs at the time of admission into the FTZ

Using executive powers, the President can prescribe or revoke trade sanctions in a matter of hours. Allyn International’s service suite includes consultation on current and developing issues in the US trade community. Reach Allyn here for a consultation or, contact us sales@allynintl.com or 239-489-9900.

Contributor: Andrew Dosher

About Allyn International

Allyn International is dedicated to providing high quality, customer centric services and solutions for the global marketplace. Allyn's core products include transportation management, logistics sourcing, freight forwarding, supply chain consulting, tax management and global trade compliance.  Allyn clients range from small local businesses to Fortune 500 firms. Allyn conducts business in more than 20 languages and has extensive experience in both developed and emerging markets. Highly trained experts are positioned throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Allyn’s regional headquarters are strategically located in Fort Myers, Florida, U.S.A., Shanghai, P.R. China and Prague, Czech Republic. For more information, visit www.allynintl.com.