Antidumping and countervailing duties for postal shippers

Antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) are extra duties the US applies to specific products from specific countries. They are not a tariff program you can plan around with a rate table: they are hundreds of individual orders, each covering a narrowly described product from a named country, at rates that can exceed 100% and are set per manufacturer or all country rate.

For postal shippers, AD/CVD is the strictest category in US trade. If your product is covered by an order, it cannot enter the United States through any simplified mail process. This guide explains how to find out whether that is you.

What it is 

Terms to know

• Antidumping duty (ADD): An extra duty applied when a foreign producer sells into the US below fair market value. Case numbers start with A, like A-570-000.
• Countervailing duty (CVD): An extra duty applied when a foreign government subsidizes an industry. Case numbers start with C.
• Order: The document that imposes the duty. Each order names a product and a country, for example "certain steel nails from China."
• Scope: The written description in the order of exactly which merchandise is covered. The scope is what decides coverage, not the HS code.
• Scope ruling: An official determination from the Commerce Department on whether a specific product falls inside an order's scope.
• Cash deposit: The AD/CVD amount paid at entry. It is an estimate, not a final bill.
• Liquidation: The point, often years later, when customs sets the final duty owed. You can be billed more than you deposited.

Two US agencies run this system. The Commerce Department (International Trade Administration) investigates and writes the orders, sets the rates, and decides scope questions. Customs (CBP) enforces the orders at the border and collects the money. AD/CVD is one of CBP's designated Priority Trade Issues, which is agency language for an area that receives heightened enforcement attention.

Rates are assigned to individual producers and exporters, not to products in general. Two identical items from the same country can carry very different rates depending on which factory made them, and a producer with no assigned rate gets the "all-country" rate from the order.

How this stacks with other duties: AD/CVD is separate from — and stacks on top of — other duty regimes. A product subject to an AD/CVD order can also owe MFN (Column 1) duty, Section 301 duties, and Section 232 national security tariffs on the same entry; none of these regimes exempts a product from another. See those guides for how each specifically stacks with AD/CVD.

Why this matters for postal shipments now 

Under CBP's 2026 interim final rule, merchandise subject to AD/CVD orders is not eligible for the simplified postal entry process, and unlike other restricted categories it received no delayed compliance window. That took effect July 24, 2026.

The newer Entry Type 13 test does not help either. The notice states plainly that shipments subject to AD/CVD or quotas remain ineligible and must use formal entry procedures.

So for a covered product there is exactly one path: a formal customs entry, filed by a licensed broker, with a bond, a cash deposit at the case rate, and a liquidation tail that can run for years. That is a commercial cargo process attached to a parcel, and for most postal shippers it does not make economic sense.

How to check whether your product is covered 

Work through these in order. Most products clear at step one.

Step 1: Screen by HS code and country of origin

Start with your product's HS code and the country where it was actually made. Search both against the official order lists:

• Commerce AD/CVD Search: access.trade.gov/adcvd lets you search current orders by HTS number and read the scope for each.
• Commerce orders data visualization: ADCVD orders and suspension agreements for browsing what is in effect.
• CBP AD/CVD Search: ACE | AD-CVD application and trade.cbp.gov for case numbers, rates, and the messages CBP issues to the ports.

If no order covers your HS code from your country, you are done. If something comes back, continue.

Step 2: Read the scope language, because the HS code does not decide

This is the step people skip, and it is the one that matters.

Every order lists HS subheadings, but those are included for convenience only. The written scope description is what legally determines coverage. An HS subheading can contain products that are covered and products that are not.

Read the actual scope text and compare it against your product's real characteristics: material composition, dimensions, construction method, finish, and end use. Scope descriptions are specific in ways that feel arbitrary until you read them, calling out things like wire diameter, thread count, or whether an item is assembled.

Two things follow from this:

• A hit at step one does not mean you are covered. Your product may be genuinely outside the written scope.
• A miss at step one does not mean you are safe if your product is described by the scope. Classification alone is not a defense.

Step 3: Identify the producer, not just the country

If your product is in scope, the rate depends on who made it. You need the actual manufacturer or exporter name to match against the rate list in the order. If your manufacturer or exporter name is not listed it falls under the all country rate.

If your supplier is a trading company or a marketplace seller rather than the factory, ask who the producer is. If nobody will tell you, treat that as a warning sign rather than a paperwork inconvenience.

Step 4: Request a scope ruling if it is genuinely ambiguous

When the scope language honestly does not settle the question, you can ask Commerce for a formal answer. Scope ruling applications are filed electronically through ACCESS, Commerce's case filing system. The paper application can be found on ITA's website. Commerce has 30 days to accept or reject the application, and an accepted application starts a scope inquiry that results in a published ruling.

See Commerce's Scope Ruling Guidance for what an application must contain.

This is a real legal proceeding with a real timeline. It is worth it for an established product line and rarely worth it for a single parcel.

Traps that catch small shippers 

• Your supplier's assurance is not a defense. US law puts the obligation on the importer to exercise reasonable care in determining whether goods are subject to an order (19 U.S.C. 1484). Failing to do so exposes you to penalties under 19 U.S.C. 1592. "My supplier said it was fine" is not a legal position.
• Routing around an order is evasion. Shipping covered goods through a third country to change the apparent origin is transshipment, and it is one of the main things CBP looks for. Origin is where the product was made, not where it was last handled.
• Enforcement is fast and asymmetric. Under the Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA), a competitor can file an allegation that you are evading an order. CBP must decide whether to investigate within 15 business days and reach a final determination within 300 days. Interim measures can start before any finding, including requiring live entry, suspending liquidation, and increasing your bond requirements.
• Unknowing does not mean unharmed. Importers caught up in evasion, including those who did not know, can face retroactive duty assessments, seizure, and loss of import privileges.

What happens if your product is covered 

The formal entry path, in outline:

1. Confirm scope coverage and identify the correct case number or numbers. A product can be subject to both an AD order and a CVD order at once.
2. Match the producer to a case-specific rate, or apply the all-country rate.
3. File a formal entry through a licensed customs broker, with the case numbers declared.
4. Post a bond and pay the cash deposit at the applicable rate. Bonds for AD/CVD entries get closer scrutiny, and single transaction bonds may be sized up substantially.
5. Wait for liquidation. Commerce runs annual administrative reviews that can revise rates retroactively. Your final liability is set at liquidation, which may be years after the shipment delivered, and it can be higher than what you deposited.

That last point is the one worth sitting with. On a covered product you do not actually know your final cost at the time you ship.

Frequently asked questions