On July 16, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a bulletin via its Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) providing guidance for applying 232 duties for passenger vehicles and light trucks to items that qualify for preferential treatment under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
According to the guidance, the 25 percent tariff applies "exclusively to the value of the non-U.S. content with respect to certain USMCA-qualifying goods that were entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on April 3, 2025."
In order to apply the 232 duties to the value of non-U.S. content, importers must have approval from the Secretary of Commerce. This process was announced in a Federal Register Notice issued on May 20, 2025.
The guidance provides the appropriate Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) classifications to use to properly report the duty to CBP, as well as detailed instructions on how to structure the codes on a Customs declaration.
The CSMS bulletin can be found here:
https://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDHSCBP-3e9bbf4?wgt_ref=USDHSCBP_WIDGET_2
The Federal Register Notice with details on seeking approval from Commerce can be found here:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/05/20/2025-08917/procedures-for-submissions-by-importers-of-automobiles-qualifying-for-preferential-tariff-treatment
