Analysis
HTS 3810.90.20 covers consisting wholly of inorganic substances under heading 3810 (pickling preparations for metal surfaces; fluxes and other auxiliary preparations for…).
Within this group the rate runs from 5% to 6.5%. Compared with 3810.90.10 (containing 5 percent or more by weight of one or more aromatic or…), which pays 6.5%, a misclassification either way moves the duty by 6.5 percentage points.
The normal trade relations rate here is zero, shared by about 25% of the 179 tariff lines in chapter 38, a useful check when a neighbouring dutiable line is a candidate. Free here means free of the base duty only: origin-specific Chapter 99 duties such as Section 301 can still be owed.
Goods from countries without normal trade relations pay the column 2 rate of 25% instead of nothing, so origin decides between free entry and a 25% duty.
The other lines in the same group are 3810.90.10 (containing 5 percent or more by weight of one or more…, 6.5%) and 3810.90.50 (other: other, 5%).
Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 325998 (All Other Miscellaneous Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing), an industry of 1,319 US establishments employing 42,583 people. That concordance is how imports of this line are compared with US output.
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 3810.90.10 | Containing 5 percent or more by weight of one or more aromatic or modified aromatic substances | 6.5% |
| 3810.90.50 | Other: other | 5% |