A common misunderstanding about Section 301 is that the 25 percent tariff is your total duty. It is not. It is an addition on top of the base rate, and the stacking is what makes the total bill so much larger than importers expect.
Base duty versus additional duty
Every imported product has a base, or most-favored-nation, duty rate set by the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. That is the starting point. Section 301 then adds its tariff, commonly 25 percent, on top of that base for China-origin goods. Your effective rate is the sum, not the larger of the two.
A simple example
Say a product carries a 3 percent base rate. On its own, that is modest. Add the 25 percent Section 301 tariff and the effective rate jumps to 28 percent. On a 0 percent base rate item, the effective rate becomes 25 percent, which is why importers of goods that used to enter duty-free are often the most surprised.
Why it matters for recovery
Because the 301 add-on is a large, separate layer, it is also where a large share of recoverable duty sits. When an exclusion applied to your product, it was the 25 percent layer that should have come off. Isolating that layer across your entries is a core part of a recovery review.
Seeing your real rate
Our Tariff Calculator lets you model base duty, Section 301, and additional tariffs together so you can see the stacked effect. If the number looks high, that is often a sign there is recoverable duty to review. Start with a free eligibility check to find out.