4203.21.40

Analysis

HTS 4203.21.40 covers baseball and softball gloves and mitts (including batting gloves): other under heading 4203 (articles of apparel and clothing accessories, of leather or of composition leather).

Neighbouring lines carry rates from duty-free to 5.5%, so the exact line matters. The widest gap is with 4203.21.60 (ski or snowmobile gloves, mittens and mitts: other), at 5.5%: a product that belongs there but is entered here, or the reverse, changes the duty by 5.5 percentage points.

Goods classified here enter the United States duty-free at the general (normal trade relations) rate, as do about 10% of the 88 tariff lines in chapter 42. 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 30% instead of nothing, so origin decides between free entry and a 30% duty.

Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 339920 (Sporting and Athletic Goods Manufacturing), an industry of 1,662 US establishments employing 39,073 people. That is the industry code a US manufacturer of the same product would normally use.