What Section 232 means for goods from India
No 10% Section 301 duty on top. Goods that pay a Section 232 duty on metals, vehicles and parts, trucks, wood products, covered semiconductors or patented pharmaceuticals are exempt from the 10% forced-labor Section 301 duty on Indian goods (9903.05.90).[3] Newer 232 programs, such as drones, are not on that exemption list.[28] IEEPA did not stack either. While the IEEPA tariffs ran, Section 232 goods were outside the reciprocal tariff and the 25% Russian-oil duty on India.[30][31] Those duties ended on February 24, 2026.[27] Promised India carve-outs are not in force. The February 6, 2026 US-India joint statement said the United States would remove Section 232 tariffs on certain Indian aircraft and aircraft parts and give India a preferential tariff-rate quota for auto parts.[32] As of October 5, 2026, no proclamation or HTS line had done either.[3] Generic medicines are outside the pharma duty. The patented-pharmaceutical duty does not cover generics, and India is on Commerce's list of jurisdictions eligible for the zero rate on specialty products such as orphan drugs.[16][17] Quartz is a different measure. Indian quartz surface products pay a Section 201 safeguard of 25% in quota and 50% over quota since August 15, 2026, not a Section 232 duty.[29]
What Section 232 is
Section 232 rates and products as of October 5, 2026
| Products | Additional duty (general rate) | Chapter 99 line | Applies to entries from | Partner rates and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Steel, aluminum and copper: the 2026 rules
Weight rule. Annex I-B and Annex III goods outside HTS Chapters 72, 73, 74 and 76 are not dutiable when the covered metal is less than 15% of the article's weight (9903.82.03). Goods with no aluminum, steel or copper at all report 9903.82.01.[1][4] Metal weight on the entry. CBP asks for the total weight of the covered metal, in kilograms, as a second quantity on the entry line.[4] Ask your Indian supplier for it per article before the goods ship. One metal duty per article. A product listed under more than one metal pays the metals duty once, even if it contains two or three of them.[1] US-melted metal. Derivatives whose metal was entirely melted and poured, or smelted and cast, in the United States pay 10% (9903.82.06).[1] From June 8, 2026, "entirely" means at least 85% of the metal by weight.[2] United Kingdom. UK steel and aluminum pay 25% under Annex I-A and 15% under Annex I-B when the metal was melted and poured, or smelted or cast, in the UK.[1] Foreign-trade zones and drawback. Covered goods admitted to a foreign-trade zone must take privileged foreign status. Drawback is limited to Annex I-B and Annex III goods from listed agreement partners made with partner-country metal.[1] Aluminum onshoring. Companies with an approved plan to build US primary aluminum capacity can import a matching quantity at half the Section 232 rate.[19]
Effective dates so far
March 12, 2025. Steel and aluminum at 25% for every country, with the country exemptions ended.[5] April 3, 2025. 25% on passenger vehicles and light trucks; auto parts followed on May 3, 2025.[8][3] June 4, 2025. Steel and aluminum raised to 50%, with the UK held at 25%.[6] August 1, 2025. 50% on semi-finished copper products and copper-intensive derivatives.[7] October 14, 2025. Timber and lumber at 10%; upholstered wooden furniture and kitchen cabinets and vanities at 25%.[11] The increases first set for January 1, 2026 were moved to January 1, 2027.[12] November 1, 2025. Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and parts at 25%, buses at 10%.[13] January 15, 2026. 25% on a narrow set of advanced semiconductors.[14] April 6, 2026. Metals rebuilt: full customs value, and annex tiers at 50%, 25% and 15%.[1] June 8, 2026. Annex I-C tier, a wider 15% tier, new derivatives and the 85% US-metal threshold.[2] July 31 and September 29, 2026. Patented pharmaceutical duties start, first for companies listed in Annex III, then for everyone else.[16] September 3, 2026. Drones and critical drone components at 100% or 25%.[22]
What gets added, and what is carved out
No metal, or little metal. 9903.82.01 and 9903.82.03 cover annex goods with no covered metal, or below the 15% weight threshold outside Chapters 72, 73, 74 and 76.[3] Semiconductor end uses. 9903.79.03 to 9903.79.09 exempt covered chips for US data centers, repair or replacement, R&D, startups, and non-data-center consumer, industrial and public-sector uses.[3] Pharmaceuticals. Generics are not covered for now. Orphan drugs, nuclear medicines, plasma-derived therapies, fertility treatments, cell and gene therapies and some other specialty products can be zero-rated for eligible partners.[16][17] Since September 29, 2026, the duty reaches only the 149 statistical lines listed in U.S. note 40(c), in Chapters 29 and 30. Inactive ingredients and excipients are not covered, unpatented animal-health products count as generics, and articles solely for clinical trials, research and development or other non-commercial use pay no added duty under 9903.04.70.[3][17] Drone-part lines used for something else. Parts and docking-station subheadings entered for a purpose other than a drone report 9903.08.20 with no added duty.[3]
How Section 232 combines with other duties
Autos and metals. Under Executive Order 14289 of April 29, 2025, a vehicle or part that pays the Section 232 auto duty does not also pay the steel or aluminum duty.[9] Section 301 forced-labor duty, including the 10% on India. The duty in force since July 24, 2026 on goods from about 60 economies does not apply to metals, vehicles and parts, trucks and parts, wood products, patented pharmaceuticals or semiconductor articles covered by Section 232 (9903.05.90).[3][26] Section 301 on Chinese goods. The China Section 301 headings exclude only goods with a USTR exclusion, not Section 232 goods. When an entry line carries both, CBP's reporting order puts the Section 301 Chapter 99 number first and the Section 232 number after it.[3][25] IEEPA duties. IEEPA tariffs stopped being collected on February 24, 2026, so they no longer stack with Section 232.[27] For refunds of IEEPA duty already paid, see the IEEPA refund guide.
How to check whether your product is covered
Find the code with the HS code lookup and confirm the full 10-digit US line. Run the code, India as the origin and the value through the tariff simulator for an estimate of the duty and landed cost. For metal goods, get the metal weight per article and the country where the metal was melted and poured, or smelted and cast, from the Indian supplier before the goods ship. Have the licensed customs broker on the US side confirm the annex, the Chapter 99 line and any partner rate before the entry is filed. Atmavaan arranges US customs clearance through licensed customs brokers.
Dates to watch
December 4, 2026. The polysilicon minimum import price and the 15% duty begin.[20] Until then, a BIS temporary rule in force from September 22 to December 3, 2026 lets Commerce bar importers it finds stockpiling polysilicon products and caps weekly volumes for importers registered on or after August 6, 2026.[21] January 1, 2027. Upholstered wooden furniture goes to 30% and kitchen cabinets and vanities to 50%, except for countries with an agreement.[12] February 9, 2027. Listed drone components join at 25%.[22] January 1, 2028. Annex III and Annex I-C goods move to the Annex I-B rates.[1][2] Refined copper. The copper proclamation asked Commerce for an update by June 30, 2026 on whether to phase in a 15% duty on refined copper from January 1, 2027 and 30% from January 1, 2028.[7] No proclamation acting on it had appeared as of October 5, 2026, so this is unsettled.
