Section 301 Tariffs Explained

What Section 301 is, how the product lists work, and where it stands legally as of mid-2026.

Section 301 refers to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which authorizes the US Trade Representative (USTR) to investigate and respond to foreign trade practices it considers unfair or harmful to US commerce. The tariffs most importers mean when they say "Section 301" trace back to a 2017–2018 USTR investigation into Chinese intellectual property and technology-transfer practices, which resulted in escalating rounds of additional duties on Chinese-origin goods starting in 2018.

How the product lists work

Section 301 tariffs on China were rolled out in stages, organized into numbered lists, each covering a defined set of Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes:

• Lists 1–3 cover the broadest range of industrial and consumer goods, generally carrying a 25% additional duty.
• List 4A covers a further set of consumer-adjacent goods at a lower additional rate, historically around 7.5%.
• Strategic-sector increases layered on top of the base lists during the 2024 USTR four-year review raised rates further on electric vehicles, solar cells, semiconductors, and several other targeted categories — in some cases to 50% or 100% on top of the underlying rate.

Which list (if any) applies to your product depends entirely on its specific HTS classification, not its general description. Two products that seem similar in a marketing sense can sit on different lists, or on no list at all, depending on the technical classification.

Current legal status

Section 301 tariffs on China have been challenged repeatedly in the Court of International Trade and the Federal Circuit since 2018. The Federal Circuit upheld Lists 3 and 4A in a September 2025 ruling, reinforcing that Section 301 rests on durable statutory authority rather than an emergency power subject to the kind of legal vulnerability that affected other tariff programs. This is a meaningful distinction: unlike tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) — which the Supreme Court struck down in February 2026 — Section 301 tariffs have consistently survived judicial review and remain the most stable layer of China tariff exposure for importers to plan around.

How it stacks with other tariff programs

Section 301 rarely applies in isolation. A single shipment can face Section 301 plus a separate global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (a flat additional rate applied broadly, not China-specific, currently in effect but time-limited), plus Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, and derivative products where applicable, plus the ordinary Most Favored Nation (MFN) duty rate that would apply regardless of origin. These layers are additive, not alternative — see the category breakdown for what that looks like in practice.