Congressional fact sheet maps US tariff regime rebuilt on Sections 232, 301 and 338

by Helena Lindqvist · October 15, 2026

Policy Correspondent, The Harbour Post

The Congressional Research Service published an updated fact sheet on active presidential tariff actions on 8 October, with its table current to 30 September, giving lawmakers a consolidated picture of how the administration rebuilt its tariff wall after the Supreme Court's 20 February ruling that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorise tariffs. The document shows a regime now resting on sector-specific national-security duties, trade-practice investigations and a little-used 1930 statute.

The immediate replacement for the invalidated measures, a global 10% tariff imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 from 24 February, has already lapsed. Section 122 permits duties for no more than 150 days without congressional action, and the CRS notes the levy expired on 24 July with no extension. Law firm White & Case, in an alert at the time of the ruling, said all IEEPA tariffs were revoked and that Customs stopped collecting them from 24 February.

What remains is broader in scope if narrower in legal footing. Under Section 232, the CRS lists duties of 10% to 50% on steel and aluminium, 15% to 25% on automobiles and parts, 10% to 50% on copper products, 25% on medium- and heavy-duty trucks and parts and 10% on buses, 25% on certain semiconductors and derivatives, and 10% to 100% on patented pharmaceuticals varying by country, the last imposed in April 2026. Drone tariffs of up to 100% for larger aircraft were added in August, and polysilicon duties of 10% to 15% with minimum import prices take effect on 4 December.

The Section 301 track, which the administration described in February as the second phase of its response to the court, has produced two completed actions: a 25% tariff on Brazil from July and duties of 10% or 12.5% on goods from 60 economies under a forced-labour finding, imposed on 23 July with exemptions for USMCA-compliant imports. Investigations without rates yet cover China's compliance with the Phase One agreement, Germany's pharmaceutical pricing, structural excess capacity in manufacturing across several countries, and Vietnam's intellectual-property practices.

The most striking entry concerns Canada. Under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, the administration has imposed 50% duties on select Canadian motor vehicles, alcoholic beverages and dairy products, with no USMCA exemption and stacked on top of any Section 232 duties, alongside import bans on certain Canadian products. The Federal Register notices are dated 23 July and 14 September. The CRS also records that duty-free de minimis treatment for low-value shipments has been suspended since April.

Several sectoral probes are still open, including anthracite coal, personal protective and medical equipment, robotics and industrial machinery, and wind turbines, and the president has directed Commerce and the US Trade Representative to pursue negotiations rather than tariffs on commercial aircraft and processed critical minerals. The USMCA joint review is listed as ongoing without a completion date.

The trade backdrop against which these measures operate is, for now, forgiving. The World Trade Organization raised its 2026 goods-trade forecast to 3.9% on 8 October, driven by AI hardware, and the International Monetary Fund this week kept global growth at 3.1%, though it flagged fragmentation and high debt among its downside risks.

What to watch next: the 4 December start of polysilicon minimum import prices, the scheduled 1 January 2027 step-up in timber and lumber duties, and any determinations in the four pending Section 301 investigations. The absence of a listed completion date for the USMCA review leaves the Canadian measures as the principal open question for North American supply chains.