Section 232 Duty Impact Calculator
Preliminary, automated exposure estimate — not a compliance determination and not a customs classification. A licensed customs broker should verify every 10-digit HTS classification and the specific proclamation status for each shipment before you file.
Model current annual Section 232 duty exposure by HTS code, annual import value, and country of origin — plus the additional exposure if the BIS Aug 27 2026 proposed derivative articles are finalized.
Your import book
10-digit HTSUS format (XXXX.XX.XX.XX) preferred, but 4-digit heading is enough for a Section 232 chapter match. Currently: 2 codes parsed, 2 valid.
Total annual customs value across all listed HTS codes. Model splits evenly across valid codes for per-line exposure.
Country-specific Section 232 arrangements (USMCA, US-EU steel arrangement, KORUS, Section 301 stack for China, Japan reciprocal) alter the effective duty rate on top of the underlying chapter rate.
Your current Section 232 duty exposure
Country-of-origin note (China): Section 301 List 1-4A tariffs (7.5%-25%) plus IEEPA duties (adjusted 2026) stack on top of the underlying Section 232 chapter rate — a China-origin shipment on chapter 72/73/74/76 can carry a compounded rate materially above the 50% Section 232 baseline alone.
Additional exposure if BIS Aug 27 2026 proposals pass
- Aluminum powderDraft comment letter →Additional annual exposure if finalized: $131,250
- Filled steel containersDraft comment letter →Additional annual exposure if finalized: $131,250
Assumptions driving this estimate
- HTS lookup: 2 of 2 codes matched a Section 232 primary chapter (72/73/74/76) or one of the 14 BIS-proposed derivative headings (Federal Register 2026-15961).
- Country of origin China — 2.1× load factor applied to reflect stacked-tariff regime for this origin. Section 301 List 1-4A tariffs (7.5%-25%) plus IEEPA duties (adjusted 2026) stack on top of the underlying Section 232 chapter rate — a China-origin shipment on chapter 72/73/74/76 can carry a compounded rate materially above the 50% Section 232 baseline alone.
- Current annual Section 232 exposure = base exposure ($250,000) × country load (2.1) = $525,000.
- Effective duty rate on your annual import value: 105.00%.
- 2 of your codes falls within (or is proposed to fall within) the 14 BIS-proposed derivative articles from Federal Register 2026-15961 — additional annual exposure if those proposals are finalized in the Aug 27 2026 comment window: $262,500.
- This is an order-of-magnitude lead-magnet estimate, not a customs classification. A licensed customs broker should verify every 10-digit HTS classification and the specific proclamation status for each shipment before you file.
The BIS public-comment window closes at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday Aug 27, 2026. Filing a substantive comment on the record is the one lever a US importer has to shape the finalized rule.
By Andy Gaber, Digital Empire Holdings LLC · Published: Aug 20, 2026 · Updated: Aug 20, 2026 · Editorial policy
What Section 232 actually is (and what it is not)
Section 232 refers to §232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, codified at 19 U.S.C. § 1862, which authorizes the President to adjust imports of an article — through tariffs, quotas, or other means — when the Secretary of Commerce finds that the article is being imported in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security. The implementing regulations sit at 15 CFR Part 705, which BIS uses to conduct the investigations that produce the reports underpinning any Section 232 action. Section 232 is a national-security statute in name, but its practical effect since 2018 has been to layer a tariff schedule on top of the base MFN rate on steel and aluminum articles and their derivatives.
The currently-in-effect Section 232 tariff regime on steel and aluminum comes from Presidential Proclamations 9704 (aluminum) and 9705 (steel), issued in 2018, and their subsequent modifications through 2026 (most recently the Apr 2 and Jun 1 2026 proclamations that set the 50% rate on primary steel, aluminum, and copper articles and derivatives). The full history of Section 232 proclamations is maintained in the Federal Register presidential-proclamations index. The specific tariff rates that flow through to CBP entry filings are maintained in the USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule online reference tool.
Why country of origin matters even when the Section 232 rate does not change
The Section 232 rate on primary metal chapters (72 steel, 73 steel articles, 74 copper, 76 aluminum) is 50% globally under the currently-in-effect proclamations — it does NOT change based on where the article was made. What DOES change based on country of origin is the stacked tariff regime layered on top of Section 232. A China-origin shipment on chapter 72 carries not only the 50% Section 232 rate but also the applicable Section 301 rate (7.5% to 25% depending on List assignment) and, at various points during 2025-2026, additional IEEPA duties. A Canada- or Mexico-origin shipment on the same chapter may qualify for USMCA preferential treatment, materially reducing the effective rate on properly-documented shipments (though documentation gaps that fail the USMCA rules of origin default the shipment back to MFN + Section 232 baseline). A South Korea-origin steel shipment may qualify for the Section 232 quota carve-out negotiated under KORUS.
The country-of-origin load factor this calculator applies is an order-of-magnitude summary of that stacked regime, calibrated to reflect the typical shape of the compounded rate for a given origin. It is NOT a substitute for the country-specific chapter-by-chapter rate a licensed customs broker would apply to a specific shipment.
The BIS Aug 27 comment window
On Aug 6, 2026, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published Federal Register notice 2026-15961 proposing to extend Section 232 tariff coverage to 14 additional derivative articles, with a public-comment window closing at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday Aug 27, 2026. Comments are submitted through regulations.gov docket BIS-2026-0331. If the proposals are finalized in substantially the form BIS proposed, each named derivative article carries an additional 25% tariff on top of any existing chapter-level Section 232 rate. For US importers whose HTS codes fall within any of the 14 proposed headings, the comment window is the one lever they have to shape the finalized rule.
How TariffWatch monitors this in production
TariffWatch monitors the Federal Register API for new BIS notices on Section 232, drafts real personalized comment letters for the specific HTS heading each customer’s exposure falls within (using the four proposal-review criteria BIS itself uses under 15 CFR 705.5), and returns each letter as a downloadable PDF ready to file on regulations.gov before the deadline. The 14 per-article comment-letter templates linked from the calculator above are the same templates the paid product uses, published as a free lead magnet during the Aug 27 comment window because there is no rational reason to gate a substantive comment on the record behind a paywall in the specific week that the record closes. After Aug 27, monitoring for new BIS notices continues on the paid product.
Limits of this estimate
A few honest limits to name out loud. First, this calculator matches HTS codes at the 4-digit heading level, not the 10-digit subheading level BIS uses in its own annex. That means a code where the 4-digit heading matches a Section 232 primary chapter but the 10-digit subheading is a carve-out exclusion will be shown as in-scope here when the underlying entry might qualify for an exclusion. Second, the total annual customs value is split evenly across valid codes for per-line exposure — most real import books are lopsided, with one or two codes dominating the value. Third, the country-of-origin load factor is a summary of a stacked regime, not the chapter-by-chapter rate table a customs broker would apply. Treat the output as an order-of-magnitude estimate for planning purposes, not as a customs-broker-quality classification.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from the /tariffwatch/checker page?
The existing free Section 232 Exposure Checker takes HTS codes plus total annual customs value and returns the underlying chapter-72/73/74/76 rate exposure plus BIS-14 proposed-article overlap. This Duty Impact Calculator adds two things on top: (1) a country-of-origin dropdown that models the stacked-tariff regime typical for each origin (Section 301 for China, USMCA preference for Canada / Mexico, US-EU steel arrangement, KORUS carve-out for South Korea, Japan reciprocal Section 232 arrangement), and (2) an explicit side-by-side "current vs if BIS Aug 27 proposals pass" figure with per-BIS-14-article deep links into Mike4's /tariffwatch/comment-letter builder for the specific proposal your codes matched.
Where do the country load factors come from?
Country-of-origin does not change the underlying Section 232 rate itself — that rate is 50% globally on the primary metal chapters (72 steel, 73 steel articles, 74 copper, 76 aluminum) under the Apr 2 and Jun 1 2026 Presidential proclamations. What country-of-origin DOES change is the stacked-tariff regime layered on top: Section 301 (China), IEEPA (China), USMCA preferences (Canada / Mexico), the US-EU steel and aluminum arrangement, and various country-specific quotas and reciprocal Section 232 arrangements. The load factor multiplies base Section 232 exposure to capture that stacked regime. For a lead-magnet calculator this is an order-of-magnitude estimate, not a customs classification — a licensed customs broker should verify every 10-digit HTS classification and the specific proclamation status for each shipment before you file.
What are the 14 BIS-proposed derivative articles?
On Aug 6, 2026, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published Federal Register notice 2026-15961 proposing to extend Section 232 tariff coverage to 14 additional derivative articles: aluminum powder, brass-wind musical instrument parts, welding-machine parts, floor safes, insulated electric-conductor cables, fire extinguishers, heat-exchange-unit parts, hydraulic engine parts, mobile lifting frames on tires and straddle carriers, other self-propelled cranes, tanker trailers, agricultural trailers, other trailers, and filled steel containers. The public-comment window on that proposal closes at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday Aug 27, 2026. If the proposals are finalized in substantially the form BIS proposed, each named article carries an additional 25% tariff on top of any existing chapter-level Section 232 rate.
What does "additional exposure if proposals pass" actually model?
The calculator walks each of your HTS codes against the 14 proposed derivative articles from the BIS notice. If any of your codes matches one of the 14 articles by HTS-heading prefix, the calculator adds the proposed 25% rate as additional exposure, multiplied by your allocated per-code annual customs value, multiplied by the country load factor. The result is what your annual duty bill would look like if the proposals become final. It does not model the alternative-recommendation exclusions that a well-drafted comment letter might carve out for your specific facts — that is what the /tariffwatch/comment-letter builder is for.
Why does the calculator only accept up to 10 HTS codes?
To keep the free tool honest as a lead magnet rather than a paid customs-broker replacement. A real 8-figure import book has thousands of HTS lines and needs a proper classification engine, not an in-browser calculator. Ten codes is enough to model the largest exposure lines on most SMB import books and to give a directionally-correct order-of-magnitude estimate for someone deciding whether to invest in either continuous Section 232 monitoring or a real classification review.
Is this a customs classification?
No. Nothing on this page is a customs classification or a legally-binding rate determination. HTS classification is a judgment call that requires human expertise, and the correct 10-digit subheading for a specific article depends on facts (composition, use, packaging, chapter notes) that no calculator can capture. This is an order-of-magnitude illustrative estimate for planning purposes only. A licensed customs broker should verify every classification before you file an entry.
Primary sources referenced above: 19 U.S.C. § 1862 (Cornell LII); 15 CFR Part 705 (eCFR); Federal Register 2026-15961 (BIS Aug 27 proposals); regulations.gov docket BIS-2026-0331; USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule online reference; CBP — Section 232 tariffs (implementation guidance).