Last updated 7 November 2026 · every figure recomputed from the sources listed at the foot of this page
Nicaragua: A 0% to 15% Phase-In That Stacks With an 18% Overlay
Nicaragua is the clearest phase-in in the current Chapter 99. One heading, 9903.89.01, prints a rate that changes twice on dates the note itself sets: 0% for 2026, 10% for 2027, 15% from 2028. And a second heading, 9903.02.47, applies at 18% at the same time. This page prints the three steps as the note prints them, the two headings that stack, and the one carve-out that removes both.
Three steps, printed in the note
U.S. note 29(b) does not describe the phase-in in prose; it prints a rate table. The three lines are reproduced below exactly as they appear, because the wording carries the boundaries:
This table is wider than the screen: scroll it sideways to reach every column.
| Entry period | Additional rate | Text as printed |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 0% | If entered during the period from January 1, 2026, though December 31, 2026, ........ 0% |
| 2027 | 10% | If entered during the period from January 1, 2027, though December 31, 2027, ...... 10% |
| 2028 and after | 15% | If entered on or after January 1, 2028, ....................................................................... 15% |
Source: USITC · checked .
Read the boundary words carefully, because they are not symmetrical. The 2026 and 2027 steps run “from January 1 … through December 31”, so they close at the end of the year. The third step has no end date at all: it applies “on or after January 1, 2028” and keeps applying until the note changes. A model that assumes a fourth step exists will be wrong; a model that assumes the 2027 rate persists into 2028 will also be wrong, and by five points.
The two headings that stack
9903.89.01 is the phase-in heading. Its general column reads “The duty provided in the applicable subheading + 0%”, which is why the phase-in lives in the note rather than in the heading: the heading prints a base rate, and the note supplies the additional rate for each period.
9903.02.47 is a separate country heading that applies to the same goods, and the note says so explicitly — Nicaraguan articles subject to the phase-in heading are also subject to the additional duties imposed by 9903.02.47. Its general column reads “The duty provided in the applicable subheading + 18%”.
This table is wider than the screen: scroll it sideways to reach every column.
| Heading | General rate | Scope as printed (abridged) |
|---|---|---|
| 9903.89.01 | The duty provided in the applicable subheading + 0% | Articles the product of Nicaragua, as provided for in U.S. note 29 to this subchapter |
| 9903.02.47 | The duty provided in the applicable subheading + 18% | Except for goods loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading and in transit on the final mode of transit before 12:01 a.m. ... |
Source: USITC (United States International Trade Commission) · checked .
So the arithmetic for a Nicaraguan entry is the base rate plus the phase-in step plus the overlay. In 2026 that is the base rate plus zero plus 18%; in 2028 it is the base rate plus 15 percent plus the same overlay. The overlay does not phase in — it applies at its own rate throughout, which means the phase-in is a smaller share of the total than its headline suggests.
The carve-out that removes both
One sentence in the note takes both headings off the table:
“The additional duties do not apply to originating goods of Nicaragua under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR)”
Originating goods under CAFTA-DR therefore pay neither the phase-in nor the overlay. That makes origin documentation the highest-value document in a Nicaraguan entry: the difference between qualifying and not qualifying is the whole additional duty, not a percentage of it.
What else the note does
Two provisions are worth knowing before assuming an exemption. The note excludes entries properly claimed under chapter 98, but keeps the additional duty on four named subheadings and computes it on the value of the repairs or processing rather than the full value. And it keeps antidumping, countervailing and other duties in force on top, so an entry covered by an AD/CVD order pays that as well.
Neither of these is unusual for Chapter 99 — almost every country heading in the subchapter has the same two sentences. They are worth stating because they are the two places where an importer who has correctly identified the rate still gets the total wrong.
How to price a Nicaraguan entry
One: establish origin. If the goods originate under CAFTA-DR, the additional duties do not apply and the analysis ends at the base rate.
Two: pick the period. The entry date selects the step. Three periods, three rates, and the third has no end.
Three: add the overlay. The second country heading applies regardless of the step, at its own rate.
Four: add the base rate. Both additional rates sit on top of the chapter 1-97 general rate, which for most industrial goods is low but not zero.
The three questions that actually decide a Nicaraguan entry
Every Nicaraguan shipment reduces to three questions, and each one can end the analysis before the next is reached.
Does it originate under CAFTA-DR? If it does, both additional headings fall away and the entry pays the chapter 1-97 general rate alone. That is the largest single swing on the page, because it is the whole additional amount rather than a fraction of it. The note does not qualify the carve-out with a value test or a product list; it is an origin test, which means the certificate of origin is the document that decides the entry.
What period is the entry in? The three steps are calendar years with printed boundaries. An entry on December 31, 2027 pays 10 percent; an entry on January 1, 2028 pays 15. There is no proration and no transition window in the note, so a shipment that straddles the boundary is two entries with two rates, not one entry with a blended rate.
What else reaches the goods? The second country heading applies throughout, and antidumping and countervailing duties apply on top if an order covers the product. The phase-in is the most visible part of the calculation and frequently the smallest.
What a 0% step actually means
The first step reads 0 percent, and that wording deserves a sentence of its own because it is easy to read as “nothing applies”. It is not nothing: the heading is live, the second country heading still applies, and the base rate applies. What is zero is one of three components. An importer who reads the 2026 step as a suspension and files accordingly has mis-stated the entry in a way that is visible on the face of the entry summary.
The same reading applies to the “base duty only” headings elsewhere in the subchapter, and to the flat-zero headings in the Section 232 ladder: a printed zero is a rate, not an absence. Chapter 99 has a separate way of saying a provision is switched off — it prints “No change” — and the two are not interchangeable.
Where the phase-in sits relative to other country headings
Chapter 99 carries a large family of country headings under U.S. note 2, and Nicaragua appears in that family too, at its own rate. The phase-in heading this page is about is a separate instrument layered on top, and the note says the two apply together. That structure — a country block plus a country-specific overlay — is common in the current schedule, and it means that looking up “the Nicaragua rate” in a country table will return one of the two components rather than the total.
The practical consequence is that a country-level rate table is a starting point, not an answer. The answer for a specific entry is the sum of every heading whose scope reaches the goods, and the note is where the schedule records which of those sums are allowed to happen at once.
Two worked entries
Take a shipment of Nicaraguan ceramic tableware, entered for consumption with a customs value of $40,000, and run it through both periods. In 2026 the entry pays the chapter 69 general rate, plus $0 under the phase-in heading, plus the second country heading's rate. In 2028 the same shipment pays the same base rate plus $6,000, which is the 15 percent step applied to the same value, plus the same second heading. The difference between the two entries is $6,000 on this value, and nothing else about the goods has to change for that to be true.
Now take the same goods with a CAFTA-DR origin claim that holds up. Both additional headings fall away in both periods, so the 2026 entry and the 2028 entry cost the same amount. That is the practical shape of the carve-out: it does not reduce the phase-in, it removes it, and it removes the overlay with it.
Why this page exists in this form
Most country pages in Chapter 99 are a single rate on a single date. Nicaragua is the counter-example: a rate that changes on schedule, printed in a note rather than in a heading, stacked with a second heading that does not change. That makes it the best short exercise for the general problem — a rate is a function of origin, product, period and programme, and any one of the four can move the answer.
The page is built entirely from the two headings and the note text, both read from the USITC export named under each table. The dates are the note's dates, not a summary of them; where the note prints a rate for a period, the table prints the same sentence.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the US tariff rate on goods from Nicaragua?
- The phase-in heading 9903.89.01 applies 0% for entries in 2026, 10% for 2027 and 15% from 2028 onward, on top of the chapter 1-97 general rate. A second heading, 9903.02.47, applies at the same time at its own rate.
- Does the Nicaragua tariff stack with other Chapter 99 duties?
- Yes. U.S. note 29(a) states that Nicaraguan articles subject to 9903.89.01 are also subject to the additional duties imposed by 9903.02.47. Both are added to the base rate, not substituted for it.
- Do CAFTA-DR originating goods pay the additional duty?
- No. The note states that the additional duties do not apply to originating goods of Nicaragua under CAFTA-DR. That removes both the phase-in and the overlay, so origin documentation decides the whole additional amount.
- When does the Nicaragua rate reach 15%?
- The third step applies on or after January 1, 2028, and the note prints no end date for it. The 2027 step closes on December 31, 2027, so the increase from 10 to 15 percent happens at the year boundary.
- Is the 2027 rate the final rate?
- No. The note prints three steps, and the third is 15 percent from January 1, 2028 onward with no end date. A model that carries the 2027 rate into 2028 understates the duty by five percentage points.
- Do chapter 98 entries escape the Nicaragua additional duty?
- Only partly. The note excludes entries properly claimed under chapter 98 except for four named subheadings, and for those it applies the additional duty to the value of the repairs or processing performed abroad rather than to the full value of the article.
Sources
- USITC (United States International Trade Commission) — Chapter 99 REST export re-read by this task; 3,350 rows. Byte-identical to the copy batch 1 read on 2026-11-06 (read 2026-11-07T00:34:48Z, sha256 e55de042e0cb6b67…)
- USITC — Chapter 99 PDF (14,005,269 bytes, HTS Revision 22 (2026)); read through pdftotext -layout for the U.S. notes that carry the numeric thresholds and the phased rate tables (read 2026-11-07T00:35:05Z, sha256 290eee3d064837a0…)
Every figure above is recomputed from the datasets listed here at render time; the dataset vintage and each source's check timestamp are printed with it. This page extends the prototype that already earns search traffic on the same mechanism. Rates are informational, not a binding customs determination: confirm the classification and the entry with CBP before shipping.