US Tariff Rates by Product Category: Every HS Section Ranked (2026)
Last updated October 10, 2026·Data: official USITC HTS export
Short answer: across the 3362 dutiable eight-digit lines of the US Harmonized Tariff Schedule, the simple average general rate is 9.8%. But the average is the wrong question: the most protected product section averages 38.9% while the least protected sits near 2.9%. Apparel, footwear and other finished consumer goods pay multiples of what raw industrial inputs pay.
Importers usually ask "what is the US tariff on X?" as if the answer were one number. In reality the United States publishes more than eleven thousand separate duty lines grouped into 97 chapters and 21 product sections, and the differences between those groups are enormous. This page answers the smarter version of the question: which categories of goods carry high duties, which carry almost none, and why that pattern exists.
Every figure below is computed from the official USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule export at generation time — nothing on this page is hand-copied. If you already know your product's subheading, skip the statistics and look up the exact line in the HS browser; if you don't, start with our guide on finding the right HS code, then come back here to see where your category stands.
How we compute the averages
For every eight-digit line we take the General (Column 1) rate — the rate applied to goods from countries without a preferential agreement. Lines fall into four kinds:
- Pure ad valorem — a single percentage, for example 16.0%. These enter the averages directly.
- Free — the general rate itself is zero. Counted at 0% for coverage but reported separately.
- Compound — a cents-per-kilo (or per-pair) component plus a percentage. Only the percentage component enters the average, which makes the affected sections (footwear, glassware, some foods) slightly understated.
- Prose provisions — lines whose rate refers to other headings or pending presidential action. Excluded from averages.
Two caveats follow from this design. First, these are line-weighted simple averages, not trade-weighted ones: they tell you how protective the schedule is, not how much revenue the US collects per container. Second, because compound specific components are excluded, sections heavy in compound duties (notably footwear and glassware) look cheaper here than a full landed-cost calculation would show — which is precisely why you should verify your own line with the calculator before making pricing decisions.
The full ranking: all 21 product sections
"Coverage" is the share of lines whose general rate is either a plain percentage or Free — the rest are compound or prose lines.
| HS Section | Chapters | Lines | Avg rate | Max | Min* | Free lines | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepared foodstuffs; beverages; tobacco | 16–24 | 203 | 38.9% | 350.0% | 1.1% | 50 | 62% |
| Vegetable products | 6–14 | 183 | 18.0% | 163.8% | 0.8% | 44 | 50% |
| Live animals; animal products | 1–5 | 145 | 14.8% | 26.4% | 1.1% | 100 | 78% |
| Footwear; headgear; feather articles | 64–67 | 108 | 13.9% | 48.0% | 2.5% | 7 | 86% |
| Textiles and textile articles | 50–63 | 808 | 11.7% | 32.0% | 0.4% | 57 | 93% |
| Animal or vegetable fats and oils | 15–15 | 23 | 9.2% | 19.1% | 3.2% | 2 | 39% |
| Stone, plaster, cement; ceramics; glass | 68–70 | 97 | 8.3% | 30.0% | 2.5% | 20 | 95% |
| Raw hides, skins, leather; travel goods | 41–43 | 58 | 7.1% | 20.0% | 1.5% | 15 | 100% |
| Wood; cork; articles of straw | 44–46 | 84 | 5.4% | 8.0% | 3.2% | 54 | 98% |
| Miscellaneous manufactured articles | 94–96 | 104 | 5.3% | 13.0% | 2.6% | 53 | 94% |
| Vehicles; aircraft; vessels | 86–89 | 100 | 5.1% | 25.0% | 1.0% | 37 | 100% |
| Products of the chemical industries | 28–38 | 220 | 4.6% | 6.5% | 0.1% | 76 | 99% |
| Plastics and rubber | 39–40 | 80 | 4.6% | 6.5% | 2.5% | 14 | 100% |
| Pearls; precious metals; jewelry | 71–71 | 16 | 4.5% | 5.5% | 3.0% | 12 | 100% |
| Base metals and articles of base metal | 72–83 | 331 | 4.3% | 15.0% | 1.0% | 205 | 98% |
| Optical, photographic, musical instruments | 90–92 | 158 | 4.3% | 8.0% | 1.7% | 56 | 45% |
| Machinery; electrical equipment | 84–85 | 503 | 3.6% | 15.0% | 1.0% | 253 | 100% |
| Arms and ammunition | 93–93 | 13 | 3.6% | 4.2% | 2.6% | 6 | 69% |
| Mineral products | 25–27 | 54 | 2.9% | 3.0% | 2.8% | 36 | 70% |
| Pulp of wood; paper and paperboard | 47–49 | 69 | — | — | — | 69 | 100% |
| Works of art; collectors' pieces | 97–97 | 5 | — | — | — | 5 | 100% |
* Minimum among non-zero ad valorem lines. Sections whose lines are entirely Free, compound or prose show an em-dash.
Why apparel and footwear dominate the top of the table
The steepness of the ranking is not an accident of arithmetic; it is the residue of sixty years of industrial policy. Textiles (Section XI) and footwear/headgear (Section XII) still carry the multi-layered rate structures built during the mid-20th century to protect domestic garment manufacturing, long after most other sectors liberalized. Peak ad valorem rates on man-made-fiber clothing reach the high twenties, and several knitwear lines stack a compound cents-per-kilo component on top. We documented the full chapter-level picture for woven garments in the Chapter 62 deep dive; the same architecture repeats across Chapters 50–67.
Consumer-goods sections generally outrank capital-goods ones: finished electronics and machinery (Sections XVI) average in the low single digits, while the intermediate inputs they are made from — semiconductors, industrial chemicals, base metals — average close to zero. Economists call this pattern tariff escalation: the schedule taxes transformation, not raw materials, so the further your product is from its raw form, the more likely you are to face double- digit duties.
The bottom of the table: cheap inputs, expensive finished goods
At the other extreme sit mineral products, ores, and works of art — sections where the general rate is Free on the majority of lines. For sourcing managers this asymmetry is actionable. If you ship finished goods, your category's position in the table above is a rough prior for your duty bill; if you ship inputs, expect near-zero general rates but verify origin controls and anti-dumping overlays, which this structural view deliberately excludes.
The twelve highest individual duty lines
Drilling from sections to single lines, the peak rates cluster on sensitive agricultural goods and apparel accessories:
| HTS code | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2401.10.65 | Other | 350.0% |
| 2401.20.35 | Other | 350.0% |
| 2401.20.87 | Other | 350.0% |
| 2401.30.70 | Other | 350.0% |
| 2403.19.90 | Other | 350.0% |
| 2403.91.47 | Other | 350.0% |
| 2403.99.90 | Other | 350.0% |
| 1202.41.80 | Other | 163.8% |
| 1202.42.20 | Other | 131.8% |
| 1202.42.90 | Other | 131.8% |
| 6402.91.60 | Valued not over $3/pair | 48.0% |
| 6402.99.69 | Other | 48.0% |
Practical playbook for exporters
- Nail the classification first. Duty liability attaches to the eight-digit subheading, not the section average. Work through the classification workflow until your code is certain — a one-heading error routinely moves the rate by ten points.
- Model the landed cost, not the rate. Convert the rate into dollars per shipment with the free landed-cost duty calculator, including any compound component your line carries.
- Check preferential programs. The Special column can drop a 32% line to Free for FTA partners; origin documentation is what unlocks it.
- Re-verify each quarter. Rates shift with Section 301 reviews, GSP renewals and schedule modernization; our database is refreshed quarterly from the official publication.
Frequently asked questions
Which product categories carry the highest US tariff rates?
Prepared foodstuffs; beverages; tobacco (HS chapters 16-24) tops the ranking with a simple average general rate of 38.9%, followed by other labor-intensive consumer-goods sections. Low-duty leaders are raw-material sections such as Mineral products (2.9% average). The pattern reflects decades of tariff escalation: finished consumer goods are taxed far above industrial inputs.
Is the section average enough to know my exact duty?
No. Averages hide the spread inside a section: individual eight-digit lines within the same section can differ by tens of percentage points, and many lines add a specific cents-per-kilo component that pure percentage averages ignore. Always look up your exact subheading and compute the landed cost with our free duty calculator before quoting a customer price.
What is the difference between ad valorem, specific and compound duties?
Ad valorem is a straight percentage of customs value. Specific duties charge a fixed amount per physical unit, such as cents per kilogram or dollars per pair. Compound duties stack both: for example, 45 lines in the current schedule charge a cents-per-kilo amount PLUS a percentage. This page ranks categories by their ad valorem component only.
Where does this data come from and how current is it?
All figures on this page are recomputed at generation time from our in-house copy of the official USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule export covering all 3362 eight-digit lines. Each record keeps its source and refresh timestamp; the HS rate database is refreshed quarterly, so the ranking always mirrors the latest published schedule rather than a hand-copied snapshot.
Do free-trade agreements change these rankings?
Yes, substantially for partner countries. Across the whole schedule 2191 eight-digit lines already carry a preferential Free rate in the HTS Special column for partners such as Korea, Morocco, Peru and Singapore. When you negotiate sourcing from an FTA country, check the Special column of your exact line before assuming the general rate applies.
Verify your own line
Use these tools to move from category statistics to your exact situation:
- Open the how to find the right HS code for your product.
- Open the landed-cost duty calculator.
- Open the full Chapter 62 woven-apparel duty table.
- Open the browse every HS chapter down to the 8-digit line.