Title 19 › CHAPTER 22 — URUGUAY ROUND TRADE AGREEMENTS › SUBCHAPTER I — APPROVAL OF, AND GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO, URUGUAY ROUND AGREEMENTS › Part B — Tariff Modifications › § 3521
Gives the President the power to change tariff rates or add new duties needed to carry out Schedule XX. The President can also make duty changes the United States agrees to in World Trade Organization (WTO) talks, or fix technical mistakes in Schedule XX. These actions must follow the consultation and layover rules in section 3524. After the WTO Agreement takes effect for the United States, the President can raise duties on goods from a country that is not a WTO member if that country does not give fair trade benefits, but only after consulting the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. Any increase must be no lower than either the Schedule XX base rate or the Schedule XX bound rate (whichever is higher). The President must end any such increase either on the date announced or when the WTO Agreement takes effect for that country, whichever comes first, and must publish the decision and the end date in the Federal Register. When changing the HTS (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) to implement Schedule XX, the President must also set the Column 2 rates listed in Schedule XX for the matching HTS subheadings. Schedule XX lists many exact Column 2 rates (examples: 0201.10.50 — 31.1%; 0401.30.25 — 90.8¢/liter; 1202.10.80 — 192.7%; 1701.12.10 — 6.58170¢/kg less 0.0622005¢/kg for each degree under 100 but not less than 5.031562¢/kg; 2401.20.30 — $1.21/kg; 5201.00.18 — 36.9¢/kg). The President may also combine two or more 8‑digit HTS subheadings into one when their column 1 general rates are the same and the change follows the Harmonized System. If combined, the new column 1 rate will be the common rate and the new column 2 rate will be the highest of the old column 2 rates that was in effect the day before the change. That consolidation power must follow the consultation and layover rules and applies to subheadings that had the same column 1 rate on December 8, 1994, or later became the same because of staged reductions.
Full Legal Text
Customs Duties, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
19 U.S.C. § 3521
Title 19, Customs Duties
Last Updated
Sep 23, 2026
Release point: 119-110