US Tariff Exposure & Sourcing Comparison Engine

Get the true stacked US import duty — not just a lookup. This Actor stacks every current US duty layer (base/MFN + Section 301 + Section 232 + Section 122) into a single effective rate, computes the landed cost, and compares alternative sourcing countries so you can see exactly what you save by moving from China to Vietnam, Mexico, India, or anywhere else.

Most tariff tools return one rate. This one returns the real number — and tells you which country is cheapest to source from.

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What it does

• Full duty stack — base/MFN + Section 301 (China) + Section 232 (steel/aluminum/copper) + Section 122 global surcharge, correctly combined on the customs value. Not a single-layer lookup.
• Sourcing comparison — compares any alternative origin countries you supply and returns the cheapest, with the % saving. The core use case: "I'm sourcing from China at 88% effective duty — what do I pay from Vietnam?"
• Landed cost — adds Merchandise Processing Fee, Harbor Maintenance Fee (ocean), and optional freight/insurance on top of the duty stack. Real landed cost, not just the tariff.
• Bulk catalog screening — pass an array of products and get one clean output row per line. Screen a whole catalog in one run.
• Monitoring mode — schedule it on your key HTS codes. Rerun weekly to catch rate changes, new exclusions, or surcharge status changes.
• Confidence classification — every result is classified VERIFIED, PARTIAL, or LOW_CONFIDENCE. LOW_CONFIDENCE results are suppressed rather than shown — the tool warns you rather than returns a confident wrong number.

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Who this is for

• Importers and sourcing teams pricing a shipment or evaluating a supply-chain move
• Customs brokers doing rapid exposure checks across a client's catalog
• E-commerce sellers exposed to China tariffs (Section 301) who need to know if moving origin makes financial sense
• Procurement analysts monitoring tariff exposure across a product portfolio
• Developers and AI agents needing a programmatic tariff-exposure API — fully compatible with pay-per-event agentic workflows

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Why this is different from other tariff tools on the Store

Existing tools return a single rate from a single source. This one:

1. Stacks all four layers — the rate you actually pay at the border is base + 301 + 232 + 122. Each has different applicability rules. This engine applies all of them and handles the anti-stacking rules (Section 122 does not stack on Section 232).
2. Uses dual-source 301 verification — Section 301 applicability is cross-checked between the USITC footnote and the USTR 2024-review Annex A list, catching codes the USITC footnote misses (e.g. the 100% syringe/needle tariff).
3. Tracks the current legal reality, not just the HTS — the IEEPA tariffs were struck down in February 2026 and are no longer collected; this engine applies the replacement Section 122 surcharge with its expiry date and litigation status, not the defunct IEEPA provision still listed in the HTS.
4. Compares sourcing countries — not just "what's the rate" but "what's the cheapest country to source from and how much do I save."
5. Degrades honestly — when the engine can't fully confirm a rate, it says so rather than returning a plausible-looking wrong number.

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Input

{
  "products": [
    {
      "htsCode": "8507.60.0020",
      "originCountry": "CN",
      "customsValueUsd": 120000,
      "shipMode": "ocean"
    },
    {
      "htsCode": "7213.10.0000",
      "originCountry": "CN",
      "customsValueUsd": 50000,
      "shipMode": "ocean"
    }
  ],
  "alternativeOrigins": ["VN", "MX", "IN", "TH"],
  "includeFees": true,
  "freightInsurancePctOfValue": 8
}

Field	Required	Description
htsCode	Yes	8 or 10 digit HTS code (dots optional)
originCountry	Yes	ISO-2 country code (e.g. CN, VN, MX)
customsValueUsd	No	Customs value in USD — required for landed cost
shipMode	No	ocean (default) or air — affects HMF fee
alternativeOrigins	No	Array of ISO-2 codes to compare against
includeFees	No	Include MPF + HMF in landed cost (default: true)
freightInsurancePctOfValue	No	Freight + insurance as % of customs value (default: 0)

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Output

One row per product line. Key fields:

Field	Description
htsCode	Resolved 8-digit HTS code
originCountry	Origin as supplied
productDescription	Description from USITC HTS
baseRatePct	MFN/general duty rate
section301Pct	Section 301 additional duty
section232Pct	Section 232 additional duty
section122Pct	Section 122 global surcharge
effectiveDutyPct	Total stacked effective duty rate
landedCost	Full landed cost in USD (if value supplied)
landedCostMultiple	Landed cost as multiple of customs value
cheapestAlternativeOrigin	ISO-2 code of cheapest alternative
cheapestAlternativeEffectivePct	Effective rate at that origin
savingsVsCurrentPct	Duty saving vs current origin
confidence	VERIFIED / PARTIAL / LOW_CONFIDENCE
section301Source	Provenance of 301 rate
layers	Array of individual duty layers that fired
disclaimer	Decision-support disclaimer (always present)

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Verified examples

Product	Origin	Effective rate	Confidence
Steel wire rod (7213.10)	China	75% (Free + 25% S301 + 50% S232)	VERIFIED
Li-ion battery (8507.60)	China	38.4% (3.4% base + 25% S301 enhanced + 10% S122)	VERIFIED
Aluminum sheet (7606.12)	China	78% (3% + 25% S301 + 50% S232)	VERIFIED
Aluminum sheet (7606.12)	UK	28% (3% + 25% S232 UK rate)	VERIFIED
Hypodermic syringes (9018.31)	China	110% (Free + 100% S301 enhanced + 10% S122)	PARTIAL*
Laptops (8471.30)	China	base only — S301 List 4B suspended	VERIFIED
Li-ion battery (8507.60)	Vietnam	13.4% (base + S122 only, no S301)	VERIFIED

*PARTIAL: rate is correct but sourced from USTR Annex A list without USITC footnote confirmation.

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Coverage and known limitations

Fully covered:

• Section 301: all four Lists including 2024-review enhanced rates (EVs 100%, solar 50%, semiconductors 50%, batteries 25%), dual-source verified
• Section 232: primary steel (ch. 72/73), aluminum (ch. 76), copper (ch. 74), and their chapter-level derivatives
• Section 122 global surcharge: modeled with expiry date (July 24, 2026) and litigation status
• Alternative-origin comparison: any ISO-2 country, with correct country-specific 232 rates (e.g. UK at 25% vs 50%)
• Anti-stacking: Section 122 correctly suppressed where Section 232 applies

Known gap — out-of-chapter S232 derivatives: Section 232 derivatives classified outside chapters 72–76 (e.g. certain goods in chapters 84, 85, 87) return a PARTIAL result with a "possible additional S232 derivative duty — requires manual verification" flag rather than a rate. The HTS code→tier mapping for these (50% Annex I-A vs 25% Annex I-B under Proclamation 11021) exists only in image-format proclamation annexes with no machine-readable equivalent. Primary metals and their chapter-73/76-classified derivatives are unaffected. If your product is outside chapters 72–76 and you believe it may be a steel or aluminum derivative, verify the applicable rate with a licensed customs broker.

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Data sources

All sources are public and require no API key:

• USITC HTS (hts.usitc.gov) — base/MFN rates and Chapter 99 cross-references
• USTR Section 301 lists — FR 2024-21217 Annex A (2024-review enhanced rates)
• Section 232 proclamations — Proclamations 10895/10896 (Feb 2025), 11021 (Apr 2026)
• Section 122 — Proclamation 11012 (Feb 2026)
• Federal Register API — change detection feed for rate/exclusion updates
• CBP — MPF/HMF fee rates

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Pricing

Pay-per-event: charged per product line analyzed. Rates visible in the monetization panel. A LOW_CONFIDENCE suppressed result is not charged.

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Scheduling / monitoring

Schedule this Actor daily or weekly on your key product codes to catch rate changes. The built-in Federal Register feed surfaces new USTR/232/122 notices so you know when a manual review is warranted. This is the core recurring-value use case: tariff rules change constantly, and your exposure changes with them.

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Accuracy and compliance disclaimer

This Actor is decision-support tooling, not customs or legal advice. Tariff classification carries real liability — rates depend on correct HTS classification, country-of-origin rules, and entry-specific facts that cannot be determined programmatically. Verify high-stakes classifications with a licensed customs broker or trade attorney before relying on these figures for entry or pricing decisions.

The duty stack reflects the rules as understood at the time of the last data update. Tariff rules change by proclamation and court ruling with no fixed schedule. The VERIFIED/PARTIAL/LOW_CONFIDENCE confidence classification indicates the engine's certainty about a given result, not a legal determination.

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