On April 8, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued further clarification on the “savings clause” issued under President Donald Trump’s Executive Order (EO) implementing reciprocal tariffs on over 60 countries (see Thompson Hine Update of April 3, 2025). The reciprocal tariff EO states that goods loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading and in transit on the final mode of transport before April 5, 2025 (10% baseline reciprocal tariff) and before April 9, 2025 (country-specific reciprocal tariffs), will not be subject to such additional duties. However, as is typical in such clauses, this EO did not indicate a date on which goods “on the water” at the time of a regulatory action had to be entered into the United States. Instead, the reciprocal tariff EO had no end date as to when such goods must be entered for consumption or withdrawn from a warehouse for consumption in order to not be subject to these additional tariffs.

As such, CBP has issued via its Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) the following clarifications (see CSMS # 64680374):

  • Articles the product of any country that were (1) loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading and in transit on the final mode of transport prior to entry into the United States before 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 5, 2025 (i.e., the 10% tariff), AND (2) are entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 5, 2025, and before 12:01 a.m. EDT on May 27, 2025, are not subject to the additional 10% duty rate.
  • Articles the product of the countries that have an additional country-specific rate of duty that were (1) loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading and in transit on the final mode of transport on or after 12:01 a.m. EDT April 5, 2025, and before 12:01 a.m. EDT April 9, 2025, and (2) are entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, before 12:01 a.m. EDT on May 27 2025, are subject to the 10% additional rate in lieu of the country-specific rate of duty.
  • To prevent importers from abusing the exceptions for goods that were in transit before April 5, 2025 or April 9, 2025, as applicable, CBP will permit HTSUS heading 9903.01.28, or HTSUS heading 9903.01.25 for products of countries covered by headings 9903.01.43 – 9903.01.76 (i.e., the country-specific reciprocal tariffs), as applicable, to be declared only for goods that are entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, before 12:01 a.m. EDT on May 27, 2025, after which time the exceptions would no longer realistically apply due to the passage of time.

This CSMS provides other guidance on the additional duties due on imported merchandise and the proper reporting of at least one HTSUS Chapter 99 secondary classification related to the reciprocal tariffs.  All imported merchandise must be reported with either the HTSUS classification under which the reciprocal tariff applies or one of the HTSUS classifications pursuant to which the merchandise is excepted from the reciprocal tariff.