8545.20.00

Analysis

HTS 8545.20.00 covers 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… 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.

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.

Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 335991 (Carbon and Graphite Product Manufacturing), an industry of 179 US establishments employing 9,844 people, the industry a domestic producer of these goods reports under.

All 5 neighbouring lines carry the same duty-free rate, so a borderline choice between them changes the statistics reported, not the duty paid.