Derivative Section 232 steel, aluminum, and copper tariffs on aircraft components that are products of Taiwan have been removed under HTSUS modifications published in Federal Register Volume 91, Issue 102 on May 28, 2026. The tariff relief applies retroactively to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern time on May 1, 2026.
The International Trade Administration and the Office of the United States Trade Representative jointly issued the notice implementing certain tariff-related elements of agreements between the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO). The implementation authority derives from Executive Order 14346, issued September 5, 2025, which established procedures for modifying reciprocal tariffs and implementing trade and security agreements.
Beyond aircraft components, Section 232 tariff modifications also apply to automobile parts, timber, lumber, and wood derivative products from Taiwan. Compliance engineering teams tracking duty rates for these product categories must update their classification logic and cached rate data immediately. The retroactive effective date of May 1, 2026 means that entries processed between that date and the May 28 publication may require reconciliation or post-entry adjustments.
Key Implementation Dates: MOU signed January 15, 2026 between AIT and TECRO. Final Agreement signed February 12, 2026. Notice effective May 28, 2026. Tariff modifications apply to entries from May 1, 2026 forward.
The notice specifically addresses implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding relating to Taiwan-U.S. Investment. The broader Agreement on Reciprocal Trade Between the United States of America and Taiwan (ART), also signed February 12, 2026, has not yet entered into force and is not being implemented at this time. Systems relying on static HTSUS snapshots will need to distinguish between MOU-derived modifications now in effect and potential future ART-related changes.
Rate Cache Alert: Any duty calculation engine serving Taiwan country-of-origin queries for HTS codes covering aircraft components, automobile parts, timber, lumber, or wood derivatives must invalidate cached rates. The Section 232 derivative tariff removal for aircraft components and modifications for other covered products create material duty rate changes that will produce incorrect landed cost calculations if stale data persists.
For technical inquiries, the Federal Register notice directs questions to Emily Davis, Director for Public Affairs at the International Trade Administration (202-482-3809), and Tim Wineland, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China, Mongolia, and Taiwan (202-395-6091). The implementing modifications appear in the Annex to the notice at pages 31818-31822 of the Federal Register.
Trade compliance APIs serving HTS data must propagate these HTSUS amendments to downstream classification and duty calculation systems. The retroactive application window—nearly four weeks between the May 1 effective date and May 28 publication—creates particular risk for entries already processed under prior rate assumptions. Engineering teams should implement validation checks against the new Taiwan-specific Section 232 modifications and flag any entries in the affected date range for review.