One in Three Lines Is Free: An Anatomy of the 23,193-Line US MFN Tariff Schedule
Finding 1 — The free third
36.7% of the schedule is duty-free on a pure MFN basis, yet duty-free access is broader than that number suggests: 63.3% of all lines start their special-rate column with Free for at least one preferential partner. The gap between those two figures is the entire value of free-trade agreements, expressed in one schedule column.
Finding 2 — Where the rates actually sit
Among the 12,110 lines with a clean ad-valorem rate, half are at or below 6% and nine in ten are at or below 15%. Only 3.3% of taxed lines exceed 25% — the threshold above which the additional Chapter-99 duties covered in our companion report begin stacking.
| MFN rate band | Share of taxed lines | Lines | Scale (√) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–2.5% | 10.6% of taxed lines | 1,283 | |
| 2.5–5% | 31.0% of taxed lines | 3,759 | |
| 5–10% | 36.0% of taxed lines | 4,365 | |
| 10–15% | 12.4% of taxed lines | 1,502 | |
| 15–20% | 5.1% of taxed lines | 615 | |
| 20–50% | 4.4% of taxed lines | 531 | |
| >50% | 0.5% of taxed lines | 55 |
Bar length uses a √ scale so thin tails stay visible; counts are exact.
Finding 3 — Chapter extremes
Averaged by chapter, tobacco (ch. 24) stands alone at 256.6%; oilseeds and footwear follow far behind. At the other end, machinery inputs and vessels cluster near duty-free.
| Highest-mean chapters | Mean rate | Ad-valorem lines |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter 24 — Tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes; products, whether or not containing nicotine, intended for inhalation without combustion; other nicotine containing products intended for the intake of nicotine into the human body | 256.6% | 59 |
| Chapter 12 — Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit, industrial or medicinal plants; straw and fodder | 58.2% | 25 |
| Chapter 64 — Footwear; gaiters and the like; parts of such articles | 14.8% | 408 |
| Chapter 51 — Wool, fine or coarse animal hair; horsehair yarn and woven fabric | 14.3% | 81 |
| Chapter 61 — Apparel and clothing accessories; knitted or crocheted | 13.3% | 803 |
| Chapter 02 — Meat and edible meat offal | 13.1% | 46 |
| Chapter 07 — Vegetables and certain roots and tubers; edible | 12.9% | 117 |
| Chapter 55 — Man-made staple fibres | 12.5% | 431 |
| Lowest-mean chapters | Mean rate | Ad-valorem lines |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter 75 — Nickel and articles thereof | 2.8% | 22 |
| Chapter 74 — Copper and articles thereof | 2.4% | 133 |
| Chapter 89 — Ships, boats and floating structures | 1.6% | 48 |
Finding 4 — The Column-2 penalty world
16,871 lines publish a Column-2 rate — the statutory schedule for countries without normal trade relations. On 9,853 lines the penalty is at least triple the general rate, and on 192 lines it reaches 100% or more. The steepest multiplier in the schedule is 112× on line 5007.10.30.
Finding 5 — The 9.9% you cannot do in your head
2,285 lines (9.9% of the schedule) mix ad-valorem with specific components — cents per kilo, dollars per head, per litre. These are the lines where a duty calculator stops being a convenience. Every rate in this report can be looked up line by line in our HS code browser.
Method & provenance
All figures derive from data/hts.json — the full USITC HTS REST export captured 2026-10-09T17:43:36Z (23,193 lines, 97 chapters), archived in-repo with generation timestamp. Chapter titles come from data/chapters.json. Ad-valorem parsing takes the leading percentage of the general-rate field; lines whose rate is text (cross-references, notes) are excluded from rate statistics and reported separately. Recompute everything with python3 scripts/gen_geo_report.py; the page is byte-identical on every re-run. Published 2026-10-11.
Questions this report answers
What share of US tariff lines are duty-free?
36.7% of the 23,193 import lines in the US Harmonized Tariff Schedule (8,504 lines) carry a general (MFN) rate of Free, and a further 63.3% of lines grant at least one trade-program partner a duty-free rate.
Which HS chapter has the highest average US MFN tariff?
Chapter 24 (tobacco products) averages 256.6% across its 59 ad-valorem lines — the highest of any chapter with at least 20 such lines.
What is Column 2 in the US tariff schedule?
Column 2 is the statutory penalty rate applied to countries without normal-trade-relations status. 16,871 lines publish a Column 2 percentage; 192 lines face rates of 100% or higher, and on 9,853 lines the Column 2 rate is at least triple the general rate.
How many US tariff lines require quantity-based duty math?
2,285 lines (9.9% of the schedule) carry specific or compound duties priced in cents per kilo, dollars per unit or mixed terms, alongside 12,110 straightforward ad-valorem lines.