Analysis
HTS 8545.19.40 covers other: other under heading 8545 (carbon electrodes, carbon brushes, lamp carbons, battery carbons and other articles of…).
Goods from countries without normal trade relations pay the column 2 rate of 45% instead of nothing, so origin decides between free entry and a 45% 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 335991 (Carbon and Graphite Product Manufacturing), an industry of 179 US establishments employing 9,844 people. That concordance is how imports of this line are compared with US output.
All 5 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 8545.11.00 | Of a kind used for furnaces | Free |
| 8545.19.20 | Of a kind used for electrolytic purposes | Free |
| 8545.20.00 | Carbon electrodes, carbon brushes, lamp carbons, battery carbons and other articles of graphite or other carbon, with or without metal, of a kind used for electrical purposes: brushes | Free |
| 8545.90.20 | Other: arc light carbons | Free |
| 8545.90.40 | Other: other | Free |