8527.13.11

Analysis

HTS 8527.13.11 covers combinations incorporating tape players which are incapable of recording under heading 8527 (reception apparatus for radiobroadcasting, whether or not combined, in the same housing…).

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.

There is no general-rate duty on this line, which puts it with roughly 58% of the 624 tariff lines in chapter 85 that are also free. Free here means free of the base duty only: origin-specific Chapter 99 duties such as Section 301 can still be owed.

The other lines in the same group are 8527.13.20 (radio-tape recorder combinations, duty-free), 8527.13.40 (radio-phonograph combinations, duty-free) and 8527.13.60 (other: other, duty-free).

Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 334310 (Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturing), an industry of 539 US establishments employing 10,977 people, the industry a domestic producer of these goods reports under.

All 3 neighbouring lines carry the same duty-free rate, so a borderline choice between them changes the statistics reported, not the duty paid.