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Taiwan Rep / Notes

Section 232 on Taiwan fasteners in 2026: what you pay now and the papers you still need

Since April 6, 2026, steel screws, bolts and nuts from Taiwan pay a 50% Section 232 duty on their full value. The steel-content math is gone. The melt-and-pour paperwork is not.

Updated October 9, 2026. Rates checked against the proclamation annexes published in April and June 2026.

The short version

  • Every steel line under heading 7318 (coach screws through cotter pins) is on Annex I-A. That means 50% on the full customs value for entries on or after April 6, 2026.
  • The June 8 changes didn't move fasteners. The 15% cap for Taiwan, Japan, Korea, the UK and the EU covers only goods on the new Annex I-C, and 7318 isn't on it.
  • You no longer split an entry into a steel line and a non-steel line.
  • You still report the country of melt and pour on every entry, and CBP can ask you to back it up.

Below we cover how the rules got here, what full value does to the duty on one shipment, the one document that still matters, where it tends to go missing in a Taiwan supply chain, and what to ask your supplier for.

How we got here

Fasteners have been through four rule changes in about 15 months. If your landed-cost sheet still uses an older one, it is wrong.

EffectiveWhat changed for steel fasteners
Mar 12, 2025Fasteners in headings 7316 to 7318 added to the Section 232 derivatives list at 25%, charged on the value of the steel content.
Jun 4, 2025Rate raised to 50%, still on steel content. If you couldn't document the steel content, the whole entered value took the 50%.
Apr 6, 2026Proclamation 11021 rebuilt the system. Steel 7318 lines went on Annex I-A: 50% on the full customs value. The content split ended.
Jun 8, 2026Proclamation 11032 added Annex I-C with a 15% cap for some trading partners, Taiwan included. Fasteners stayed on Annex I-A.

The U.S.–Taiwan trade agreement signed in February also brought Section 232 relief, effective for entries from May 1, 2026. That relief covers specified civil aircraft components, certain auto parts and wood products. Ask your broker whether any of your part numbers fall under it. Plain catalog fasteners classified in 7318 generally won't.

What full value does to your landed cost

Here's one shipment of hex bolts from Taiwan, invoiced at $40,000. Suppose the steel in them accounted for $26,000 of that and you had the paperwork to prove it.

Rule in forceValue the 232 rate applies toSection 232 duty
Jun 2025 to Apr 5, 2026$26,000 steel content$13,000
From Apr 6, 2026$40,000 full value$20,000

That's 54% more Section 232 duty on the same bolts, before your normal Column 1 duty. If you never documented steel content, nothing changed for you, because you were already paying 50% on the full value. The importers who did the documentation work lost their discount.

There is one upside. Building a steel-content valuation out of your supplier's wire rod invoices was slow and easy to get wrong. It was also the subject of litigation. That job is gone.

The paperwork that still matters: melt and pour

Full value took the math out of your entries. It didn't take out the question of where the steel was made. CBP defines the country of melt and pour as the place where the raw steel was first made liquid in a furnace and poured into its first solid shape, such as a billet. You report it as an ISO country code on the entry. CBP's April 2026 guidance says to keep reporting it for all steel and steel derivative products.

The rate doesn't depend on it for most Taiwan fasteners. Lower rates exist for steel melted and poured in the United States, and Taiwan wire rod is rarely that. You still have to report it, though, and a declaration you can't support is an audit finding waiting to happen.

The proof is the mill test certificate from the steel mill that made the wire rod. It isn't the fastener maker's own inspection certificate. That difference is where most Taiwan document trails break.

Where the trail breaks

A Taiwan bolt can pass through four or five companies before it reaches your dock. Each handoff is a chance for the original certificate to be swapped for a secondary one. The chain below is the typical shape of the industry, not data from a survey, and your supplier's may be shorter.

  1. Steel millMelts the steel and rolls the wire rod. Issues the mill cert with the heat number and chemistry.
  2. Steel traderSometimes in the middle. May hand down its own cert instead of the mill's.
  3. Wire drawing and annealing shopDraws the rod to size and spheroidize-anneals it. May issue a new cert that drops the original heat number.
  4. Fastener makerHeads, threads and heat-treats. Issues its own inspection cert, which should repeat the mill heat number.
  5. Trading companyCommon for smaller orders. Often has only the maker's cert, or nothing upstream at all.

The red dots mark the handoffs that can issue their own paperwork instead of passing the mill's along. If the paper you get stops at the fastener maker, you have a statement about the bolts, not about where the steel was melted.

What a complete set looks like

  1. The original mill test certificate for each heat, showing the mill name, heat number and country of melt and pour.
  2. The fastener maker's inspection certificate for your lot, listing the same heat number.
  3. A production or lot record that ties that heat number to your PO and to the lot number on the cartons.
  4. Photos of the carton labels with lot numbers visible, taken before the container is sealed.

Item 3 is the one suppliers most often can't produce on short notice. Ask for it before the order ships, not after CBP asks you.

What to ask your Taiwan supplier

Send this when you place the order. Asking early matters because the mill cert may sit with a trader or wire drawer who has no reason to dig it out once the goods have shipped.

Subject: Section 232 documents for PO [number] Hi [name], For this order we need the following documents with the shipment, for U.S. customs: 1. The steel mill's original mill test certificate for every heat used, showing the country where the steel was melted and poured. Please send the mill's certificate, not a trader's or wire drawer's. 2. Your inspection certificate for each lot, listing the mill heat number. 3. A record linking each heat number to our lot numbers and carton labels. 4. Photos of the carton labels before loading. If the wire rod came through a trader or a wire drawing shop, please ask them for the original mill certificate now so it's ready before shipment. Thank you, [your name]

When it's worth sending someone

The email works when your supplier already holds the papers. It doesn't help when the trail broke at the trader or the wire drawing shop in the chain above, two companies away from the person reading your email. It's worth having a person at the factory when:

Someone on site can match heat numbers on the wire coils to the certs, photograph the tags and lot records, and see the cartons get labeled. That's usually a few hours of work. We can't tell you what a CBP audit would cost you, but a year of entries with unsupported melt-and-pour declarations is the exposure you're weighing it against.

Need the papers pulled from a Taiwan factory?

We visit your supplier, trace the heat numbers back to the mill cert and send you a complete set with photos, in English. Most of Taiwan's fastener makers are within a day of Taipei.

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This is a plain-English summary for buyers, not legal or customs advice. Tariff rules changed four times in 15 months. Confirm classification and rates with your licensed customs broker before you file.

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