Tariff Lines: A

About this letter-paged tariff browse

Tariff lines starting with the letter A span multiple HTS chapters and sections, because the Harmonized Tariff Schedule classifies products by common product name rather than by industry sector at the description level. Products beginning with this letter may appear across animal-product chapters, mineral-product chapters, prepared-food chapters, machinery chapters, and so on — wherever the USITC's plain-language description for the tariff line happens to start with A. The pagination above moves through every line whose description starts with this letter, in chapter order by default.

For each tariff line you can click through to the detail page to see the full General (MFN) duty rate, any Special preferential rates available under free trade agreements (USMCA, GSP, CAFTA-DR, KORUS, JAPAN), and the Column 2 rate that applies to imports from non-MFN countries. Rates can be expressed as ad valorem (a percentage of customs value), specific (a dollar amount per unit of quantity), or compound. The detail page preserves the original USITC rate text exactly as published and additionally extracts a numeric percentage for search and ranking where applicable.

How alphabetic browse complements hierarchical browse

The HTS has two primary navigation modes: hierarchical (sections → chapters → headings → subheadings → tariff lines) and alphabetic (by description). Hierarchical browse is the formal structure customs brokers use because classification rules require working through chapter notes and General Rules of Interpretation. But alphabetic browse is often faster for importers who know the common name of a product but not which chapter it belongs to. For example, "almonds" appears in Chapter 8 (edible fruit) while "almond oil" appears in Chapter 15 (animal/vegetable fats) and "almond paste" appears in Chapter 20 (prepared fruit) — three different duty regimes for related products. Alphabetic browse surfaces all three faster than chapter drill-down.

For binding tariff classifications, always verify the line and rate against the official USITC HTS site and consult a licensed customs broker. PlainTariff is an unofficial reference maintained to make USITC data more browsable; it is not a substitute for formal customs advice.

Why duty rates vary so widely

MFN duty rates on the schedule range from 0% (free) on roughly 5,979 tariff lines to north of 100% on a small number of textile and tobacco classifications. The variation reflects decades of accumulated trade policy: GATT/WTO rounds of reciprocal tariff reductions, sector-specific protection retained for textiles, footwear, and certain agricultural commodities, and special programs that eliminated duties for products with strategic-supply or development-policy rationale. Within a single chapter, individual subheadings can carry rates from 0% to 30%+ depending on the specific product description — which is why classification accuracy matters so much for importers.

Free trade agreements layer on top of the MFN schedule and can override the General rate for imports from FTA partners. USMCA (Canada, Mexico) eliminates duties on most tariff lines for qualifying originating goods; CAFTA-DR, KORUS, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, ISRAEL, and other bilaterals each have their own product-level carve-outs and rules of origin. The Special rate column on each detail page identifies which FTAs apply to that line. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) provide unilateral preferences for eligible developing-country imports.

Additional duties beyond the MFN rate

The Column 1 General rate is not always the final duty an importer pays. Section 201 safeguards, Section 232 national-security tariffs (steel, aluminum), and Section 301 actions (China-origin goods) can add 10-100 percentage points to the effective rate. Antidumping and countervailing duties imposed by the Department of Commerce on specific product/country combinations can add hundreds of percentage points. None of these supplemental duties appear in the General rate column — importers need to cross-reference the country of origin and the product-specific orders in effect at time of entry to compute the actual landed duty cost.

PlainTariff currently surfaces the General, Special, and Column 2 rates as published in the USITC HTS 2026 Basic Edition. Section 301, AD/CVD, and other supplemental duty data is not integrated; for those, importers should consult Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) and the active Federal Register notices, or work with a licensed customs broker.