Tariff & HS Code Lookup: US HTS and UK Import Duty Rates

Every product that crosses a border is classified under a tariff code. The first six digits are the international Harmonized System (HS), and each country adds its own digits and its own duty rates: the US in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS, usually called HTS), the UK in the UK Global Tariff.

This actor looks up those codes in the official open sources and returns one clean row per tariff line, with the description, the duty rates, the unit of quantity and the footnotes. Give it codes you already have, or search by a product word. Use it to fill in duty rates in a product catalogue or landed cost calculation, to check the codes on supplier invoices, to compare the US and UK rate for the same HS code, or to get told when a rate changes.

It covers two tariffs:

• us: the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States from the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC). General (normal trade relations) rate, special rate with the trade program codes, column 2 rate, units and footnotes.
• uk: the UK Trade Tariff from GOV.UK. Third country duty (the UK Global Tariff rate), VAT, preferential rates per country or trade agreement, supplementary unit, additional duties and footnotes.

Example from a real run

Run gdHWu7Q9GVUItMcXf on Apify on 5 October 2026, with this input:

{
  "codes": ["8471.30.01.00", "0901.21.00", "6109.10.00"]
}

It returned 25 lines in 3 seconds of run time: the laptop line, the roasted coffee line with its 8 statistical lines, and the cotton T-shirt line with its 14 statistical lines. The first three rows from the dataset, with the long fullDescription and headingDescription left out here:

[
  {
    "code": "8471.30.01.00",
    "country": "us",
    "description": "Portable automatic data processing machines, weighing not more than 10 kg, consisting of at least a central processing unit, a keyboard and a display",
    "unit": "No.",
    "generalRate": "Free",
    "specialRate": null,
    "column2Rate": "35%",
    "footnotes": [],
    "parentCode": "8471",
    "sourceUrl": "https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=8471.30.01.00",
    "source": "USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, 2026 HTS Revision 20"
  },
  {
    "code": "0901.21.00",
    "country": "us",
    "description": "Not decaffeinated",
    "unit": null,
    "generalRate": "Free",
    "specialRate": null,
    "column2Rate": "Free",
    "parentCode": "0901"
  },
  {
    "code": "0901.21.00.15",
    "country": "us",
    "description": "Certified organic",
    "fullDescription": "Coffee, whether or not roasted or decaffeinated; coffee husks and skins; coffee substitutes containing coffee in any proportion > Coffee, roasted > Not decaffeinated > In retail containers weighing 2 kg or less > Arabica > Certified organic",
    "unit": "kg",
    "generalRate": "Free",
    "specialRate": null,
    "column2Rate": "Free",
    "parentCode": "0901.21.00"
  }
]

A UK row from run dHTJ5mauY1ESE2E1q on the same day (input {"country": "uk", "codes": ["0902", "6109"], "onlyNew": true}, 8 lines), with the list of 56 preferential rates and the footnotes shortened:

{
  "code": "6109100010",
  "country": "uk",
  "description": "T-shirts",
  "fullDescription": "T-shirts, singlets and other vests, knitted or crocheted > Of cotton > T-shirts",
  "headingDescription": "T-shirts, singlets and other vests, knitted or crocheted",
  "chapterDescription": "Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted",
  "unit": "items (p/st)",
  "generalRate": "12.00%",
  "thirdCountryDuty": "12.00%",
  "vatRate": "0.00%, 20.00%",
  "supplementaryUnit": "items (p/st)",
  "preferentialRates": [
    { "area": "AL", "areaName": "Albania", "rate": "0.00%" },
    { "area": "AD", "areaName": "Andorra", "rate": "0.00%" }
  ],
  "additionalDuties": "35.00% (Belarus); 35.00% (Russia)",
  "footnotes": ["TN207: The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 impose trade ..."],
  "parentCode": "6109100000",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/6109100010",
  "source": "UK Trade Tariff (GOV.UK)",
  "license": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0."
}

The VAT field holds two rates because UK VAT on clothing depends on the goods: children's clothing is zero rated, other clothing pays the standard 20 %. The same input run again right after (run CAxhfXw2DJydnRHvw) returned 0 lines, since no rate had changed. See "Monitoring and scheduling".

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
country	string	us	us for the US HTS, uk for the UK Trade Tariff.
codes	array		Codes with 4 to 10 digits, with or without dots: 8471, 8471.30, 0901210000. A short code returns every line under it. Trailing zeros are read as padding, so 8471000000 is heading 8471.
search	string		A product word, for example coffee. Uses the search of the official source. Can be combined with codes.
maxResults	integer	50	Maximum number of lines, 1 to 5 000.
onlyNew	boolean	false	Return only lines that are new or whose rates changed since earlier runs with the same input.

With empty input the actor returns heading 8471 (computers) in the US tariff: 38 lines in 9 seconds in a test on 5 October 2026 (run 8d2QBxpooSXSing2u).

Example input: every UK line for roasted coffee and green tea.

{
  "country": "uk",
  "codes": ["0901.21", "0902.10"]
}

Example input: search the US tariff.

{
  "country": "us",
  "search": "coffee",
  "maxResults": 20
}

Output

Field	us	uk	Description
code	yes	yes	The tariff code as the source writes it: 8471.30.01.00 in the US, 8471300000 in the UK
country	yes	yes	us or uk
description	yes	yes	Description of the line itself, often just "Other"
fullDescription	yes	yes	Every description from the heading down to the line, joined with >, so "Other" gets its meaning
headingDescription	yes	yes	Description of the 4 digit heading
chapterDescription		yes	Title of the chapter. null for the US, since the USITC API has no chapter titles
unit	yes	yes	Unit of quantity (US) or supplementary unit (UK), for example kg, No., items (p/st)
generalRate	yes	yes	The normal rate: column 1 general in the US, third country duty in the UK
specialRate	yes		US special rate with the codes of the trade programs that give it, for example Free (A+,AU,BH,CL,CO,...)
column2Rate	yes		US column 2 rate, for countries without normal trade relations (today Cuba, North Korea, Russia and Belarus)
thirdCountryDuty		yes	UK Global Tariff rate for countries without a preference
vatRate		yes	UK import VAT. Several rates when VAT depends on the goods
supplementaryUnit		yes	UK supplementary unit for the customs declaration
preferentialRates		yes	UK preferential rates: area (country or group code), areaName, rate
additionalDuties	yes	yes	Additional, anti-dumping or retaliatory duties the source lists on the line, with the country
footnotes	yes	yes	Footnotes as plain text
parentCode	yes	yes	The line above. UK grouping lines that share a code are written with their product line suffix, 0901210000-10, as GOV.UK does
sourceUrl	yes	yes	Link to the line on the official site
source	yes	yes	The official source of the line. The US source names the HTS revision, for example USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule, 2026 Revision 20
license	yes	yes	The license of the data: US Government work (17 U.S.C. 105) or the Open Government Licence v3.0 attribution for UK rows
retrievedAt	yes	yes	When the line was read

US statistical lines (10 digits) show the rates of the 8 digit line they belong to, the way the printed schedule is read. Rates are given as text exactly as the source writes them (Free, 6.00%, 1.5¢/kg), since many duties are specific or compound and do not fit in a number.

Monitoring and scheduling

Set onlyNew to true to watch a set of codes. The actor then remembers which lines it has delivered for the same input, in a named key-value store in your Apify account (nightwave-state-tariff-hs-code-lookup, one record per input). The key of a line is the country, the code and a hash of its rates (general, special, column 2, third country duty, VAT, preferential rates and additional duties). A line comes again only when one of its rates changes, or when a new line appears under your codes. Changes to descriptions or footnotes alone do not count. Each run returns and charges only those lines. The first run returns everything. A run without changes finishes successfully with 0 rows.

onlyNew and maxResults are not part of the remembered input, so you can change them without starting over. Changing any other field starts a fresh state. To start over with the same input, delete the record in the key-value store.

A second run straight after the first, with onlyNew and the same input, returns 0 rows and is not charged, since no rate has changed in between.

Example: a daily check at 07:00 of the lines your company imports under. In Apify Console, open Schedules, create a schedule with the cron expression 0 7 * * * and add this actor with the input below.

{
  "country": "uk",
  "codes": ["0901.21", "6109.10", "8471.30"],
  "onlyNew": true
}

The same schedule through the Apify API:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/schedules?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "daily-tariff-check", "cronExpression": "0 7 * * *", "timezone": "Europe/London", "isEnabled": true, "isExclusive": true,
       "actions": [{"type": "RUN_ACTOR", "actorId": "nightwave-owner~tariff-hs-code-lookup",
                    "runInput": {"contentType": "application/json; charset=utf-8", "body": "<the input above as a JSON string>"}}]}'

The USITC publishes a new HTS revision whenever duties change: revision 20 of 2026 took effect on 28 September 2026. The UK tariff changes when trade agreements, suspensions or trade remedies start or end. Connect the schedule to a webhook or an email integration in Apify to hear about it the same day.

Use cases

• Landed cost: fill in the duty rate and VAT for each product in a catalogue or quote, so the price at the border is known before the goods are ordered.
• Classification check: compare the codes on supplier invoices and customs declarations with the official description of the line, and find codes that do not exist or describe something else.
• Tariff change monitoring: a daily run with onlyNew on the codes you import under, which returns a line only when its duty, VAT or preferential rate changes.
• US and UK side by side: the same 6 digit HS code in both tariffs, to compare the rates in two markets.

Limitations

• This is a lookup of the published tariff, not customs advice. The actor does not classify products and does not tell you which code is right for your goods. Search results come from the search of each source and can include lines that only mention the word. A binding classification comes from the customs authority (a CBP ruling in the US, an Advance Tariff Ruling in the UK).
• EU TARIC is not included. The European Commission's TARIC consultation is a web form without an official open API, and we found no key free JSON API to build on. HS codes are the same worldwide to 6 digits, so the UK lines give the HS structure for EU goods, but the UK rates are not EU rates.
• US rates are the HTS columns. The actor does not add Chapter 99 measures (for example Section 301 or Section 232 duties) to the rate of a line. Those are their own lines in chapter 99, which you can look up with codes such as 9903, and the HTS footnotes on a line often point to them.
• UK rates are the measures for imports into Great Britain as listed by GOV.UK today. Quotas, conditions, additional codes and the Northern Ireland tariff are not expanded. Open sourceUrl for the full picture.
• generalRate and the other rates are text, not numbers, since many duties are specific (1.5¢/kg) or compound.
• At most 4 requests per second are sent to each source. A UK line needs one request, so 1 000 UK lines take at least 4 minutes. A US heading is read in one request.
• Requests are retried three times on network errors, rate limits and server errors. A response in an unexpected format stops the run with a clear message instead of storing broken rows. Codes that do not exist give a warning in the log and no row.

Source and license

• US: the USITC HTS REST API (https://hts.usitc.gov/reststop), which needs no key. The HTS is a work of the U.S. Government. Under 17 U.S.C. 105, "Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government", so the data can be reused freely.
• UK: the UK Trade Tariff API (https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2), which needs no key. The data is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0, which allows commercial reuse with this attribution, carried in every UK row: "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0."

This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USITC, HMRC or the UK Government.

Pricing

Pay per event: 0.005 USD per tariff line returned (event tariff-line), which is 5.00 USD per 1 000 lines. Apify platform usage for the run comes on top and is small, since the actor only makes API requests. A search without matches costs nothing per line. maxResults caps how many lines, and therefore how much, a run can charge.

Contact

Built and maintained by Nightwave AB. Questions, bugs and feature requests: kontakt@nightwave.se

På svenska

Actorn slår upp tulltaxenummer (HS, HTS och brittiska varukoder) i de officiella öppna källorna och ger en rad per tulltaxerad varupost med beskrivning, tullsatser, enhet och fotnoter.

• Tulltaxor: USA:s Harmonized Tariff Schedule från USITC (allmän tullsats, särskild tullsats med frihandelsprogram, kolumn 2, enheter, fotnoter) och Storbritanniens UK Trade Tariff från GOV.UK (tullsats för tredje land, moms, förmånstullsatser per land eller avtal, kompletterande enhet, tilläggstullar, fotnoter).
• Input: koder med 4-10 siffror, med eller utan punkter, och ett sökord. En kort kod ger alla rader under den. Standard är 50 rader per körning, högst 5 000. Tom input ger HTS-rubrik 8471 (datorer) i USA.
• EU:s TARIC ingår inte, eftersom kommissionen inte har något öppet API för den. HS-koden är gemensam till och med 6 siffror, men de brittiska tullsatserna är inte EU:s.
• Bevakning: med onlyNew kommer actorn ihåg vilka rader och tullsatser den redan har levererat för samma input (key-value store nightwave-state-tariff-hs-code-lookup). Varje körning levererar och debiterar bara rader som är nya eller där någon tullsats har ändrats. Lägg actorn på ett dagligt schema i Apify under Schedules, se avsnittet "Monitoring and scheduling".
• Det här är ett uppslag i den publicerade tulltaxan, inte tullrådgivning. Actorn klassificerar inga varor. Bindande klassificering ges av tullmyndigheten.
• Källor och licens: USITC (amerikanskt statligt verk, fritt enligt 17 U.S.C. 105) och UK Trade Tariff (Open Government Licence v3.0).
• Pris: 0,005 USD per rad (5,00 USD per 1 000), plus Apifys plattformsanvändning.
• Kontakt: kontakt@nightwave.se