50% Tariffs Now Apply to Steel, Aluminum & Copper on Full Customs Value
Effective April 2, 2026, Section 232 tariffs were revised so articles made entirely or almost entirely of steel, aluminum, or copper face a flat 50% tariff on full customs value rather than just metal content.
What this affects
| Chapter 72 | Iron and steel |
| Chapter 73 | Articles of iron or steel |
| Chapter 74 | Copper and articles thereof |
| Chapter 76 | Aluminum and articles thereof |
| Chapter 99 | Section 232 duty headings applied on top of the base rate |
Codes are a starting point, not a classification. Confirm your own 10-digit HTS before you rely on a rate, using our HTS classification guide.
The update
Effective April 2, 2026, the Administration revised Section 232 tariffs so that articles made entirely or almost entirely of steel, aluminum, or copper are now subject to a flat 50% tariff on their full customs value, not just the metal content. Derivative articles with substantial metal content face 25%, while metal-intensive industrial equipment is taxed at 15% through 2027. These changes significantly impact procurement costs across manufacturing, construction, and industrial supply chains.
Impact
The shift to full-customs-value calculation significantly increases effective tariff costs for metal-intensive products. Businesses in construction, manufacturing, and industrial sectors face substantially higher import costs.
What to watch
The shift to full-customs-value calculation raises effective cost sharply for metal-intensive products. Derivative-article coverage can pull in goods that are only partly metal.
How to prepare
- 1Review every product for metal content
The test is whether the article is made entirely or almost entirely of the covered metal, not whether it looks like a metal product.
- 2Recheck the dutiable base, not just the rate
Duty now applies to full customs value rather than metal content, which changes the arithmetic more than the percentage does.
- 3Renegotiate supplier contracts where you can
A cost this large is usually shared, at least for the first order cycle.
- 4Price domestic alternatives properly
Compare landed cost against a domestic quote including lead time, not unit price alone.