Food & Agriculture Tariff Rates 2026: US Import Duties by Country & HTS Code

What This Covers

The food and agriculture surcharge covers meat, dairy, produce, beverages, processed foods, and agricultural commodities classified under HTS chapters 01-24. Tariff rates in this sector are highly variable, with some products entering duty-free and others subject to tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) that impose steep over-quota duties. Following the Supreme Court's February 20, 2026 ruling striking down IEEPA reciprocal tariffs, all food-exporting countries faced a flat 10% Section 122 tariff (in effect February 24 – July 24, 2026), replacing the country-specific rates that had penalized major agricultural exporters at different levels. The 10% Section 122 tariff expired at its 150-day statutory limit on July 24, 2026 and was replaced the same day by the Section 301 forced-labor tariff — a two-tier 10%/12.5% duty on roughly 60 economies, with most major exporters (including China) in the 12.5% tier and a smaller group in the 10% tier.

Most Affected Countries

The European Union has been through two regime changes in 2026: the 20% IEEPA reciprocal tariff fell to 10% Section 122 after the February SCOTUS ruling, and since July 1, 2026 EU food exports trade under the EU-US deal's 10% net of Column 1 for ordinary goods (15% only in lieu of Section 232 for autos, qualifying semiconductor articles, and drones) ceiling — cheese, wine, and olive oil pay a flat 15% with no MFN stacking, and products whose MFN rate is already 15% or higher (some over-quota dairy) pay MFN only. Mexico and Canada continue to benefit from USMCA, which provides duty-free treatment for most agricultural products, giving them a pronounced cost advantage over both the EU's 15% and the 10%/12.5% forced-labor tariff facing other exporters. Brazil and Chile, as major suppliers of coffee, fruit, and meat to the US, see their costs reduced under the forced-labor tariff's 12.5% tier compared to the higher IEEPA rates they had faced.

How Surcharges Stack

Food tariff stacking now follows two patterns. Non-EU sources pay the Section 301 forced-labor tariff (10% or 12.5% by tier) on top of MFN duties. EU sources moved to the EU-US deal's 10% net of Column 1 for ordinary goods (15% only in lieu of Section 232 for autos, qualifying semiconductor articles, and drones) ceiling on July 1, 2026: French wine with its 6.3 cents per liter base rate pays a flat 15% total (the MFN duty no longer stacks), while over-quota EU dairy with base rates of 25% or more pays MFN only — the deal adds no surcharge when MFN is already at or above 15%. USMCA-compliant food products from Mexico and Canada avoid both regimes entirely, preserving the widest price advantage. Section 122 expired July 24, 2026 and was replaced the same day by the Section 301 forced-labor tariff, so the non-EU base surcharge is now 10% or 12.5% depending on each country's tier.

Sourcing Strategies

Food importers should continue to maximize sourcing from USMCA partners Mexico and Canada for duty-free treatment, geographic proximity, and reduced spoilage risk. European specialty food imports — Italian olive oil, French wine, Spanish cheese — now trade at the EU deal's predictable flat 15%, far below the IEEPA-era rates that had been squeezing margins, and with no expiry cliff. For products not available from North American or European sources, the forced-labor tariff's narrow 10%/12.5% spread means importers can choose suppliers based on quality and price rather than wide tariff differentials. Section 122 expired July 24, 2026 and USTR finalized the Section 301 forced-labor tariff the same day — a two-tier 10%/12.5% duty on roughly 60 economies, broader than the earlier 46-country proposal — so food importers negotiating annual supply contracts should price each origin at its tier.