Duty Ledger briefing · published July 16, 2026

The 10% import surcharge ends July 24 — by operation of law

What is certain, what is only proposed, and what happens to the surcharge you already paid. Every claim below links the government's own text.

The certain part: the sunset

The surcharge was imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. §2132), which allows a balance-of-payments surcharge only within hard statutory limits:

"…the President shall proclaim, for a period not exceeding 150 days (unless such period is extended by Act of Congress)— (A) a temporary import surcharge…"

The proclamation used exactly that authority, and set its own clock:

"Accordingly, I impose, for a period of 150 days, a temporary import surcharge of 10 percent ad valorem, as described below, on articles imported into the United States, effective February 24, 2026."

CBP's filing guidance pinned the window to the minute — collection runs through the end of Thursday, July 23:

"For articles that are the product of any country entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on February 24, 2026, and through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on July 24, 2026 … will be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of 10%" — reported under HTSUS heading 9903.03.01, with exemptions at 9903.03.02–.11.

Count 150 days from February 24 and you land on July 24. So the end needs no new announcement, no Federal Register notice, no CBP action: the authority simply runs out. Congress could have extended it by statute; as of this page's publication date no such Act has been enacted. Entries on or after 12:01 a.m. EDT Friday, July 24, 2026 are outside the surcharge window CBP defined above.

The proposed part: what's queued behind it

A replacement is proposed — not scheduled, not in force. On June 5, USTR published determinations in 60 Section 301 investigations (opened March 12) into economies' failure to bar imports of forced-labor goods, and proposed two tariff rates:

"…the Trade Representative proposes 10% as the rate of additional duties. For all other economies, the Trade Representative proposes 12.5% as the rate of additional duties."

Where that process stands, from the notice's own DATES section and USTR's announcements: written comments were due July 6; public hearings convened July 7 at the U.S. International Trade Commission (USTR scheduled them through July 9); post-hearing rebuttals were due five days after the hearings ended (USTR press release, Jun 2 · hearings notice, Jul).

The honest framing: these duties are queued to backfill the sunset, not synchronized with it. Any actual duty requires a further Federal Register notice setting the action and its effective date. As of July 16, 2026, no such notice has been published — the Duty Ledger collector checks the Federal Register daily, so the day one appears, it is on the record. Scope, rates, covered economies, and timing can all still change; treat any specific claim about "next week's new tariffs" as a prediction, not a fact.

Note for Vietnam-sourcing importers: the notice lists Vietnam among the 54 economies found not to have imposed a forced-labor import prohibition. Which of the two proposed rates would apply to Vietnam is set in the notice's annexes — confirm there or with your broker; trade-press summaries place it in the 12.5% group, but this page only states what the notice text itself says.

"So do I get back the 10% I already paid?" — No. Here's the actual state of that money.

The sunset is forward-looking only. Nothing about July 24 refunds the surcharge collected on entries between February 24 and July 23. The live fight over that money is a court case:

• May 7, 2026 — The U.S. Court of International Trade held Proclamation 11012 invalid (State of Oregon v. United States / Burlap and Barrel, Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 26-47). The judgment declared the proclamation "invalid as contrary to law" — but the court entered relief only for the plaintiff importers before it, ordering their surcharges "refunded with interest as provided by law," and declined a universal injunction.
• May 8, 2026 — The government appealed to the Federal Circuit; May 12 — the Federal Circuit temporarily stayed the CIT's ruling while the appeal proceeds, leaving the surcharge in collection (case analyses: Skadden · Barnes & Thornburg).
• Today — For everyone who is not a named plaintiff, there is no refund process to "claim." Whether one ever exists depends on how the appeal ends and what relief follows. Anyone selling you a Section 122 refund service today is selling you the appeal's outcome in advance.

What actually protects you meanwhile is boring: your own entry records. Your 7501s and broker invoices for February 24 – July 23 are the evidence of exactly what you paid under heading 9903.03.01 — the number any eventual remedy, protest, or audit would be measured against. Keep them where you can find them, dated. (That is, not coincidentally, the job of a duty ledger.)

One shipment, in numbers

An illustrative stainless-cookware entry — inputs stated, so you can swap in your own:

What to actually do this week

• Entries in transit: ask your broker how anything entering around July 23–24 will be timed and coded — the boundary is 12:01 a.m. EDT on the 24th, per CBP's guidance above.
• Entries already filed: pull (or request) your 7501s / broker invoices for Feb 24 – Jul 23 and keep the paid-surcharge total where you can produce it, dated.
• The proposed §301 wave: nothing to file against yet — watch for the further Federal Register notice. That's literally what this site's collector does every day at 15:00 UTC.

Sources, in order of authority: the statute (19 U.S.C. §2132), the proclamation (FR 2026-03824), CBP's filing guidance (CSMS #67844987), the USTR notice (FR 2026-11296), the court's opinion (CIT Slip Op. 26-47). Published July 16, 2026; facts re-verified against these sources the same day. This is information, not legal or customs advice; confirm classifications and filings with your licensed broker.

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