Analysis
HTS 8202.31.00 covers with working part of steel under heading 8202 (handsaws, and metal parts thereof; blades for saws of all kinds (including slitting…).
Within this group the rate runs from duty-free to 7.2%. Compared with 8202.40.30 (with cutting parts containing by weight over 0.2 percent of chromium…), which pays 7.2%, a misclassification either way moves the duty by 7.2 percentage points.
The normal trade relations rate here is zero, shared by about 41% of the 95 tariff lines in chapter 82, 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.
Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 332216 (Saw Blade and Handtool Manufacturing), an industry of 775 US establishments employing 25,058 people. That concordance is how imports of this line are compared with US output.
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 8202.10.00 | Handsaws, and parts (except blades) thereof | Free |
| 8202.20.00 | Bandsaw blades, and parts thereof | Free |
| 8202.39.00 | Circular saw blades (including slitting or slotting saw blades), and parts thereof: other, including parts | Free |
| 8202.40.30 | With cutting parts containing by weight over 0.2 percent of chromium, molybdenum, or tungsten or over 0.1 percent of vanadium | 7.2% |
| 8202.40.60 | Chain saw blades, and parts thereof: other | Free |
| 8202.91.30 | Straight saw blades, for working metal: hacksaw blades | Free |
| 8202.91.60 | Straight saw blades, for working metal: other | Free |
| 8202.99.00 | Other saw blades, and parts thereof: other (including parts) | Free |