Analysis
HTS 8518.40.20 covers audio-frequency electric amplifiers: other under heading 8518 (microphones and stands therefor; loudspeakers, whether or not mounted in their…).
Goods from countries without normal trade relations pay the column 2 rate of 35% instead of nothing, so origin decides between free entry and a 35% duty.
The normal trade relations rate here is zero, shared by about 58% of the 624 tariff lines in chapter 85, 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.
Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 334310 (Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturing), an industry of 539 US establishments employing 10,977 people. That concordance is how imports of this line are compared with US output.
All 14 neighbouring lines carry the same duty-free rate, so a borderline choice between them changes the statistics reported, not the duty paid.
Every edition we compared, from Jan 2023 to Oct 2026 (Rev. 22), shows the same general rate of Free.
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 8518.10.40 | Microphones having a frequency range of 300 Hz to 3.4 kHz with a diameter of not exceeding 10 mm and a height not exceeding 3 mm, for telecommunication use | Free |
| 8518.10.80 | Microphones and stands therefor: other | Free |
| 8518.21.00 | Single loudspeakers, mounted in their enclosures | Free |
| 8518.22.00 | Multiple loudspeakers, mounted in the same enclosure | Free |
| 8518.29.40 | Without housing, having a frequency range of 300 Hz to 3.4 kHz with a diameter of not exceeding 50 mm, for telecommunication use | Free |
| 8518.29.80 | Other: other | Free |
| 8518.30.10 | Line telephone handsets | Free |
| 8518.30.20 | Headphones and earphones, whether or not combined with a microphone, and sets consisting of a microphone and one or more loudspeakers: other | Free |
| 8518.40.10 | For use as repeaters in line telephony | Free |
| 8518.50.00 | Electric sound amplifier sets | Free |
| 8518.90.20 | Printed circuit assemblies of line telephone handsets; parts of repeaters | Free |
| 8518.90.41 | Of line telephone handsets of subheading 8518.30.10; of repeaters of subheading 8518.40.10: other | Free |
| 8518.90.60 | Printed circuit assemblies of the articles of subheading 8518.10.40 or 8518.29.40 | Free |
| 8518.90.81 | Other: other | Free |