Section 301 China Tariffs, Explained for Ecommerce (2026)

What is Section 301?

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 lets the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) investigate and respond to a foreign country's "unfair" trade practices. In practice, the name has become shorthand for one specific, very large action: the tariffs the U.S. has imposed on goods imported from China since 2018, after USTR found China's technology-transfer and intellectual-property practices to be discriminatory.

The key thing for an ecommerce seller to understand is the scope. Section 301 is country-specific — it applies to goods of Chinese origin only. The same product shipped from Vietnam, Mexico, or India does not carry a Section 301 duty. It is layered on top of the normal base import duty (the MFN rate from the U.S. tariff schedule), not instead of it. So your total landed duty is the base rate plus Section 301 plus any other program that applies.

There is no single "China tariff rate"

Anyone who quotes you one flat number for "the China tariff" is guessing. The real rate depends on your product's exact HS code, because the lists and carve-outs are defined at the code level. Two products from the same supplier can land at wildly different rates.

The lists: the default +25%

USTR rolled out Section 301 in tranches, commonly called List 1, List 2, and List 3. Together they cover the great majority of Chinese-origin goods you would import for resale. For products on these lists, the default Section 301 duty is +25% of the customs value — added on top of whatever the base MFN duty is for that HS code.

That is the baseline. The headline numbers you have seen in the news usually come from the carve-outs — specific strategic categories where USTR raised the rate well above 25%.

The carve-outs that go above 25%

Starting in 2024, USTR singled out a set of strategic and clean-energy product categories for steeper rates. If your product falls into one of these, the math changes a lot:

Section 301 rates by category — China-origin goods. Source: USTR tariff actions, ustr.gov.
Category	Section 301 rate	Note
List 1 / 2 / 3 default	+25%	Covers most consumer goods on the lists
Electric vehicles (EVs)	+100%	Highest carve-out tier
Syringes & needles	+100%	Medical supply category
Solar cells	+50%	Clean-energy strategic tier
Semiconductors	+50%	Strategic tech tier
Lithium-ion batteries	+25%	Common in electronics & accessories
Permanent magnets	+25%	Components & motors
Natural graphite	+25%	Battery / industrial input

Every rate above is at the HS-code level and can change as USTR updates its actions. Treat this table as a starting point for finding your own code, not as a substitute for it.

Not sure which list your products fall on?

MarginGuard reads your Shopify catalog, maps each SKU to its HS code, and tells you the real Section 301 rate per product — plus what it does to your margin. Free to scan.

Scan your store free

It is never Section 301 alone — the full stack

Here is where most sellers get surprised. Section 301 is one of several tariff programs that can apply to the same shipment at the same time. To know your true landed cost, you have to stack them. The main ones in 2026:

The 2026 U.S. tariff stack at a glance. Rates vary by exact HS code — verify your own.
Program	Who it hits	Rate	Notes
Base / MFN duty	All countries	Varies by HS code	From the USITC HTS schedule. E.g. coffee (0901) is Free; a Li-ion battery (8507.60) is 3.4%.
Section 301	China only	+25% (up to +100%)	The lists + carve-outs above.
Section 232	All countries	+50% / +25%	Steel (ch. 72–73) +50%, aluminum (ch. 76) +50%, copper (ch. 74) +50%, autos (8703) +25% (UK 10%, EU/Japan 15%). On full customs value.
Section 122	Global surcharge	+15% (provisional)	Litigated & set to expire 2026-07-24. Does not stack on Section 232; waived for USMCA-qualifying Canada/Mexico goods.
IEEPA / "reciprocal"	—	0 / void	Struck down by the courts — currently not in effect. Ignore any "reciprocal" number presented as active.

Section 122 is provisional

The flat +15% global surcharge (Section 122) was struck down by a U.S. trade court and is currently on appeal, and it is scheduled to expire on July 24, 2026. Build your pricing so you are not dependent on it disappearing, but do not treat it as permanent either. Source: skadden.com.

How to find your product's rate

The rate is defined by your product's HS code (Harmonized System code) — the 6-to-10-digit classification customs uses for every traded good. Same code, same rate. Here is the manual path:

Identify the HS code. Your supplier's commercial invoice or your customs broker usually has it. If not, search the product description at the official HTS site.
Look up the base MFN duty. Enter the code at hts.usitc.gov (the USITC HTS schedule, currently 2026 Rev. 10). The "General" column is your base rate.
Check the Section 301 status. Cross-reference the code against USTR's Section 301 list and carve-out actions to see whether it carries +25% or a higher tier.
Add any Section 232 / 122 layers. If your product is steel, aluminum, copper, or contains them as a material, Section 232 may apply on top.

It is doable by hand for one product. For a catalog of dozens or hundreds of SKUs it becomes a real spreadsheet project — and the rates move. That is the part MarginGuard automates.

Why it matters: the margin math

A tariff is not an abstraction — it is a direct hit to your unit economics. Here is the math we run on every SKU. Landed cost is your unit cost grossed up by the total duty rate, plus freight:

landed cost = unit_cost × (1 + total_duty_rate) + freight margin% = (price − landed) / price recovery price = landed / (1 − target_margin)

Worked example: a China-made lithium-ion battery

Say you import a Li-ion battery accessory: $10 unit cost, $25 retail, 40% target margin. Stack the duties: a base MFN rate of ~3.4% on HS 8507.60, plus Section 301 of +25%, plus the provisional Section 122 surcharge gets you to a total duty rate of about 43.4%.

landed = $10 × (1 + 0.434) = $14.34 (freight excluded for clarity) margin% = ($25 − $14.34) / $25 = 38.6% — underwater vs. the 40% target recovery price = $14.34 / (1 − 0.40) = $25.57

So this product needs a small reprice — from $25.00 to about $25.57 — just to hold the target margin under the current stack. That is one SKU. Run it across a full catalog and the rates that have crept up over the last two years can quietly turn a profitable product line into a loss-maker without a single number changing on your storefront.

The dangerous part is the silence

Tariffs are applied at the border by your supplier or broker, not at checkout. Your Shopify dashboard still shows the same revenue. The margin erosion only shows up when you reconcile landed cost against price — which most merchants do too late, or never.

See exactly which SKUs are underwater

MarginGuard maps every product to its HS code, stacks the current 2026 duties, and flags the SKUs where your margin has slipped below target — with the recovery price already calculated.

Scan your store free

Common questions

Does Section 301 apply if I ship from a Chinese warehouse but the goods were made elsewhere?

Section 301 follows the country of origin — where the goods were substantially made — not where they shipped from. A product genuinely manufactured in Vietnam and warehoused in China is still Vietnamese-origin. But "tariff engineering" and transshipment are scrutinized, so origin has to be real and documented.

Can I avoid Section 301 by sourcing from another country?

Often, yes — that is exactly why supply chains have shifted to Vietnam, India, Mexico and elsewhere. But remember the other layers: Section 232 (steel/aluminum/copper/autos) and the provisional Section 122 surcharge apply regardless of country, so switching origin removes the 301 duty but not necessarily the whole stack.

Is the +25% on the retail price or the cost?

On the customs value — broadly, what you paid your supplier for the goods (plus certain costs), not your retail price. That is why the duty hits your cost side in the margin math above, grossing up landed cost rather than being a tax on the sale.

How often do these rates change?

More often than you would like. USTR adds carve-outs and adjusts tiers, the HTS schedule revises (we reference 2026 Rev. 10), and programs like Section 122 are actively litigated with hard expiry dates. Any rate you memorize today can be stale next quarter — which is the core reason to monitor rather than calculate once.

Honest advisory note

Every rate on this page varies by your product's exact HS code — the figures here are category-level guidance, not classification advice for your specific SKU. Section 122 is provisional: litigated and scheduled to expire July 24, 2026, so don't bank on it either way. The reciprocal/IEEPA tariffs are currently void and should not be treated as active. This is general information, not legal or customs advice — verify your classification with a licensed customs broker. MarginGuard computes the exact per-SKU duty for your catalog once installed.

Sources

Base / MFN duty: USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule, 2026 Rev. 10 — hts.usitc.gov.
Section 301 lists & carve-outs: Office of the U.S. Trade Representative — ustr.gov.
Section 232: Congressional Research Service, CRS IN12545 — congress.gov.
Section 122 (provisional / litigated / expiring 2026-07-24): skadden.com.