What is Section 301?

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to impose tariffs or other trade measures in response to foreign government actions that violate trade agreements or are unjustifiable, unreasonable, or discriminatory and burden U.S. commerce. Most notably, Section 301 tariffs were imposed on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports beginning in 2018, in response to USTR's investigation into China's technology transfer and IP practices. The tariffs were imposed in four 'tranches' at rates of 7.5% to 25%, affecting approximately $370 billion in annual Chinese imports.

Section 301 tariffs are NOT refundable through the CAPE program — CAPE covers IEEPA tariff overpayments only (HTS 9903.01 and 9903.02). Section 301 duties are recovered through a separate path: USTR product exclusions, Post-Summary Correction, or a 19 U.S.C. § 1514 protest. Chinese-origin goods often carry BOTH a Section 301 surcharge (HTS 9903.88) and an IEEPA reciprocal duty (HTS 9903.02); the IEEPA portion is the CAPE-refundable piece, while the Section 301 portion follows the exclusion/protest route. Tariffi identifies IEEPA-affected entries in your ES-003 data and flags Section 301 exposure for the appropriate separate recovery process.