The 178 product exclusions from the 2018 Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, Lists 1 to 4A, were due to stop covering new entries on the night of November 9, 2026. USTR's notice of December 1, 2025, extended them through 11:59 p.m. eastern daylight time on November 9, 2026, and as of October 28, no further extension had been published, and none was on the Federal Register's public inspection list. Then, on November 6, USTR posted a notice extending them again, through 11:59 p.m. eastern time on January 9, 2027. Importers who had already repriced their goods for the full list duty got two more months. Importers who had not checked got a reminder that the deadline is a notice, not a rumor.
The same night, the one-year suspension of a separate Section 301 action, on China's maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors, was set to end. In a notice published October 26, USTR proposed extending it through January 9, 2027, as well. Two deadlines, one night, and both moved. The lesson is not that deadlines do not matter. It is that they move by notice, and the notice is the only source that counts. Essential character decides classification the same way: the written rule governs, and the summary does not.
The 178 are two groups. 164 product-specific exclusions are claimed under heading 9903.88.69, and 14 exclusions for certain solar manufacturing equipment are claimed under heading 9903.88.70. The 164 are what remained after USTR extended part of a larger group of 429 in May 2024, and the 14 solar exclusions date from September 2024. Most of the 178 cover industrial and medical inputs. A handful cover products that brands selling on Amazon import, such as certain air purifiers, backpacks, tempered-glass screen protectors, and bicycle helmets.
An exclusion lifts only the Section 301 list duty it names, List 1, 2, 3, or 4A. The Section 301 forced-labor tariff, Section 232 duties, and any antidumping or countervailing duty still apply. If the exclusions lapse, the regular Section 301 duty for each product's list applies again: an additional 25 percent for Lists 1, 2, and 3, including the 14 solar-equipment exclusions, and an additional 7.5 percent for List 4A. The extension through January 9, 2027, does not change that math. It postpones it. A binding ruling settles classification before you import, and an exclusion check is the same kind of work: done before the goods ship, not after they land.
Find each Chinese product you import in the tables, by HTS code, and read the exclusion as written. For 152 of them the description, not the code, decides, and the other 26 cover every product under their statistical reporting number. Ask your broker which of your products claim heading 9903.88.69 or 9903.88.70, and when each container will be entered, because the exclusion covers goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, before the deadline. A container that arrives January 8 and enters January 10 is not covered.
If the entry is already filed and the exclusion was missed, CBP's guidance is a Post Summary Correction while the entry is within the PSC window. If the window has closed, the duty stands. And if your product is not on the list, do not assume a new exclusion round is coming: USTR is not currently accepting requests for new exclusions. The 178 are the list, and January 9, 2027, is the date. The same device can land in three chapters, and the exclusion that covers it in one chapter may not cover it in another, so check the heading, the description, and the date, in that order.
January 9, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. eastern time. USTR extended the 178 exclusions on November 6, 2026, after they were due to lapse on November 9. Unless USTR extends them again, they stop covering new entries that night.
On the entry summary, under heading 9903.88.69, or 9903.88.70 for the 14 kinds of solar manufacturing equipment. The product must match the exclusion as written, and for 152 of the 178, the written description decides, not the HTS code alone.
No. It removes only the Section 301 list duty it names. The Section 301 forced-labor tariff, Section 232 duties, and any antidumping or countervailing duty still apply on top.
No. USTR is not currently accepting requests for new exclusions. The 178 active exclusions are the list, and they were granted through the four-year review process, not through new applications.