The tariff stack didn't happen all at once. It happened 16 times.
Every entry below changed what a shipment actually cost — sometimes overnight. If your HTS code was wrong at any point on this timeline, the wrong tariff programs got applied, and the number you budgeted for wasn't the number CBP charged.
Section 122 expired at midnight. A new Section 301 tariff replaced it in the same instant — China lands at 12.5%.
The 10% global surcharge under Section 122 lapsed on schedule at 12:01 a.m. EDT today, July 24 — its statutory 150-day clock ran out and Congress never extended it. Hours earlier, on July 23, USTR finalized the replacement: a new Section 301 tariff addressing forced labor, covering 60 economies. China's rate lands at 12.5% — a net increase of just 2.5 points over the expiring 10% surcharge, not a fresh 12.5% stacked on top of it. Seventeen countries — including Canada, Mexico, India, Indonesia, and the UK — get the lower 10% rate; the EU and Taiwan instead get a "top up to 10%" rule rather than a flat add-on. Goods already covered by Section 232 metal tariffs (steel, aluminum, copper) are exempt from this new layer entirely. This is additive to China's existing product-specific Section 301 List 3/4A tariffs, not a replacement for them, and unlike Section 122, it carries no statutory expiration date. Litigation over whether Section 122 was ever legal in the first place is still working through the Federal Circuit, separate from this new tariff and unaffected by it.
The first tariff: fentanyl-related duties on China
President Trump invokes the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) for the first time to impose a tariff, citing China's role in the fentanyl supply chain. It's an unusual use of a sanctions law — and the opening move in what becomes a year of near-constant rate changes.
Steel and aluminum tariffs jump to 25%, exclusions frozen
Section 232 duties on steel and aluminum rise from 10% to 25%, and the administration stops granting new product exclusions. Anyone importing metal-based goods loses a safety valve overnight.
"Liberation Day": reciprocal tariffs hit nearly every country
A single executive order applies country-specific tariffs ranging from roughly 20% (EU) to 49% (Cambodia). China's cumulative rate reaches 54%. For the first time, almost no country of origin is untouched.
De minimis ends for China and Hong Kong
Packages under $800 from China and Hong Kong lose duty-free treatment. Direct-to-consumer sellers shipping from China face full customs entry for the first time in the platform's history.
A 90-day U.S.–China truce cuts tariffs from 125% to 10%
After a months-long tit-for-tat that pushed tariffs as high as 125% in each direction, both countries agree to a temporary reduction. It's a pattern that repeats for the rest of the year: escalate, then partially de-escalate.
Steel and aluminum tariffs double again, to 50%
Section 232 rates jump from 25% to 50% for nearly every country except the UK. Businesses that had just priced in March's 25% absorb a second jump within three months.
Congress locks in a permanent end date for de minimis
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act writes a full repeal of the $800 de minimis threshold into law, effective July 1, 2027 — a hard backstop regardless of what happens with executive orders in the meantime.
De minimis ends for the entire world
An executive order eliminates duty-free entry for all low-value shipments from any country. Roughly 1.4 billion packages a year that used to clear duty-free now require a real customs entry — with a real HTS code attached.
Commerce adds 400+ products to the Section 232 derivative list
The first formal "inclusions process" round pulls hundreds of additional HTS codes into steel and aluminum derivative tariffs — proof that the covered product list itself isn't static, even between major policy changes.
A second U.S.–China deal, extended a full year
Fentanyl-related tariffs on China are cut from 20% to 10%, and the broader tariff truce is extended through November 2026 — the longest stretch of relative stability all year.
The Supreme Court strikes down every IEEPA tariff
In a 6–3 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, the Court holds that IEEPA never authorized the President to impose tariffs in the first place. Every fentanyl, reciprocal, and related IEEPA duty since 2025 is invalidated — an estimated $175 billion in refunds now owed to importers who paid them.
A replacement tariff fills the gap within days: Section 122
The administration reaches for a rarely used 1974 statute — last invoked by Nixon in 1971 — and imposes a flat 10% surcharge on imports from nearly every country. Unlike IEEPA, this one carries a hard 150-day legal clock that no President can extend alone.
Steel, aluminum, and copper tariffs restructured again
Section 232 duties now apply to a product's full customs value instead of just its metal content, with a new tiered system — 50%, 25%, 15%, or 10% — based on composition and where the metal was produced. The exclusions petition process is eliminated entirely.
A trade court rules Section 122 itself went too far
The Court of International Trade finds the administration exceeded its Section 122 authority — but the relief applies only to three named plaintiffs. The 10% surcharge keeps being collected from everyone else nationwide while the ruling is appealed.
USTR proposes the next tariff before the current one even expires
With Section 122's sunset approaching, the U.S. Trade Representative issues findings from a forced-labor investigation covering 60 trading partners and proposes replacement Section 301 duties — 10% for 15 partners, 12.5% for 45 others. Unlike Section 122, this mechanism carries no statutory expiration date.
Section 122 expires. Section 301 takes its place overnight — 60 economies, two rates.
Section 122's 150-day clock runs out at 12:01 a.m. EDT on the 24th, exactly as scheduled — no Congressional extension came. Hours earlier, on the 23rd, USTR finalized the Section 301 replacement, the outcome of a forced-labor investigation into 60 trading partners. Seventeen economies — Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, and the UK — get a flat 10% add-on. The EU and Taiwan get a different rule: their Section 301 duty only tops their existing Column 1 rate up to 10%, and doesn't apply at all if that rate is already 10% or higher. Everyone else, including China, faces 12.5% — for China specifically, that's a net 2.5-point increase over the 10% it was already paying under Section 122, not a fresh 12.5% on top. Goods already covered by Section 232 steel, aluminum, or copper tariffs are exempt from this layer. A narrow in-transit exception covers vessel cargo already loaded and en route before the deadline, if it clears entry by July 28. Unlike Section 122, this tariff carries no statutory expiration date — a first, after a year and a half of every prior program arriving with a built-in sunset clause.
This is exactly why classification can't be an afterthought
Every one of these sixteen events changed the answer to "what tariff programs apply to my product" — sometimes for an entire product category, sometimes for one specific HTS suffix. A calculator that hasn't been checked against this week's rules gives you last year's number.
Check your landed cost now →This timeline reflects public reporting and government notices as of July 24, 2026, and is provided for general background only — it is not customs, legal, or trade compliance advice. Tariff programs referenced here are subject to ongoing litigation and administrative change; always confirm current rates and legal status with a licensed customs broker or official CBP guidance before relying on them for an entry.