9506.99.15

Analysis

HTS 9506.99.15 covers baseball articles and equipment, except balls, and parts and accessories thereof under heading 9506 (articles and equipment for general physical exercise, gymnastics, athletics, other sports…).

Within this group the rate runs from duty-free to 5.6%. Compared with 9506.99.12 (badminton articles and equipment, except rackets, and parts and…), which pays 5.6%, a misclassification either way moves the duty by 5.6 percentage points.

The normal trade relations rate here is zero, shared by about 60% of the 84 tariff lines in chapter 95, a useful check when a neighbouring dutiable line is a candidate. Duty-free at the general rate does not rule out additional duties under Chapter 99, such as Section 301 or Section 232 measures, which depend on the country of origin.

Goods from countries without normal trade relations pay the column 2 rate of 30% instead of nothing, so origin decides between free entry and a 30% duty.

Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 339920 (Sporting and Athletic Goods Manufacturing), an industry of 1,662 US establishments employing 39,073 people. That concordance is how imports of this line are compared with US output.