FTA Duty Savings: Does Your Product Qualify for Preferential Rates?
The US has free trade agreements with 19 countries. Many importers pay full MFN duty rates when they could pay zero. Here's how to check.
How FTA rates work
When the US signs a free trade agreement with a country, they negotiate reduced duty rates for specific products. These "preferential" rates can be significantly lower than the MFN (Most Favored Nation) rate that applies to non-FTA countries.
From China (no FTA): 16.5% MFN + 7.5% Section 301 = 24.0% schedule → $24,000; importers paid 33.5% in July 2026 → $33,500
From Vietnam (no FTA): 16.5% MFN schedule → $16,500; importers paid 26.7% → $26,700
From Mexico (USMCA): Free with USMCA origin → $0; dutiable entries from Mexico paid 19.9%
From Korea (KORUS): Free with KORUS origin → $0; dutiable entries from Korea paid 17.7%
Same product: $0 with FTA origin met, against $33,500 at the rate paid on the China route in July 2026.
Schedule: USITC schedule on 2026-10-03 (base rate plus Section 301 on China from USITC's China Tariffs table; the schedule's special column lists Free for KORUS and USMCA, codes KR and S). Paid: US Census Bureau, July 2026, 6-digit 6109.10, duty over dutiable value on entries that paid Chapter 99 duties (all dutiable entries when none did); duty-free entries are not in it. Past imports, not a quote.
US FTA partner countries
| Agreement | Countries | Year |
|---|---|---|
| USMCA | Canada, Mexico | 2020 |
| KORUS | South Korea | 2012 |
| AUSFTA | Australia | 2005 |
| CAFTA-DR | Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua | 2006 |
| Chile FTA | Chile | 2004 |
| Colombia TPA | Colombia | 2012 |
| Peru TPA | Peru | 2009 |
| Panama TPA | Panama | 2012 |
| US-Singapore | Singapore | 2004 |
| US-Bahrain | Bahrain | 2006 |
| US-Morocco | Morocco | 2006 |
| US-Oman | Oman | 2009 |
| US-Japan (Stage 1) | Japan | 2020 |
Notable absences: China, India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand. The largest US import sources by volume have no FTA with the US. Products from these countries pay full MFN rates plus any applicable Section 301/232 tariffs.
How to qualify for FTA rates
Having an FTA doesn't automatically mean your product qualifies. You need to meet Rules of Origin: proof that the product was sufficiently produced in the FTA country, not just transshipped through it.
Common rules of origin
- Wholly obtained: agricultural products grown, minerals extracted, or goods manufactured entirely in the FTA country
- Tariff shift: raw materials from outside the FTA zone were transformed into a different product (changed HTS heading)
- Regional value content: a minimum percentage of the product's value was added in the FTA zone (typically 35-55%)
Staging baskets
FTA rates don't always start at zero. Many products are "staged": the rate decreases over several years until reaching zero. The staging basket tells you the phase-in schedule:
| Basket | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Immediate | Zero duty from day one of the FTA |
| 5 Years | Rate reduced to zero over 5 equal annual cuts |
| 10 Years | Rate reduced over 10 years |
| Stage 6 | FTA-specific staging category (check agreement text) |
| Excluded | Product excluded from FTA preferences |
The FTA data gap nobody talks about
The US government's official FTA rate data (from Trade.gov) only covers HTS chapters 01-61 and 78-86. Chapters 62-77 and 87-97 have no FTA data at all. This affects some of the highest-volume import categories:
- Chapter 62: Woven apparel (not knitted)
- Chapters 72-73: Iron and steel articles
- Chapter 71: Jewelry and precious metals
- Chapter 70: Glass and glassware
- Chapter 87: Vehicles and parts
- Chapters 90-97: Instruments, arms, furniture, toys
This isn't documented anywhere on Trade.gov. Any tool that uses their API without knowing this will show "no FTA rates" for products that absolutely have FTA eligibility, because the data simply isn't in the source.
Our /classify response includes census_duties with a rate provision breakdown from the US Census Bureau for the 6-digit subheading: how much of the last 12 months' imports entered free (RP 10-19), at a special (preferential) rate (RP 64), at the MFN rate (RP 61), or under Chapter 99 additional duties (RP 69), and the duty collected on each. These are historical figures for past imports, not a rate for your shipment and not an eligibility decision.
How to see FTA program usage in our API
Our /v1/classify response returns a Census-derived rate provision breakdown. Within census_duties.breakdown, look at RP 10-19 (entered free) and RP 64 (dutiable at a special rate). RP 10 covers goods free under either the general or the special rate column, so for a code whose MFN rate is already free it says nothing about FTAs. For a code with a real MFN rate, a large free share usually means importers claimed a preference program. Compare import_value_usd across provisions to see that share.
This isn't the same as a per-country preferential rate lookup. For that, the authoritative source is USITC HTS Special column rates and the FTA partner agreement texts. Our API surfaces the program usage signal so you can quickly see whether FTA is a real lever for products under a given code.