Section 122 expired today. By statute. The President cannot extend it unilaterally. Congress did not act. The 150-day limit written into the Trade Act of 1974 has been reached.
What replaces it matters. Most businesses shipping to US consumers are watching the wrong clock.
What is happening
Section 122 was always a bridge. When the Supreme Court struck down IEEPA tariffs in February, the administration needed something fast. A flat 10 per cent on virtually all imports. A 150-day cap. In parallel, the US Trade Representative launched Section 301 investigations into 60 economies covering more than 99 per cent of US import value. The design was explicit. Produce replacement tariffs before Section 122 lapsed.
The replacement is here. A 10 per cent additional tariff applies to 18 economies, including the UK, Canada, Mexico and India. For the EU and Taiwan, the MFN tariff and new Section 301 duty combine to reach 10 per cent. For Japan, South Korea and Switzerland, they combine to reach 12.5 per cent. A 12.5 per cent additional tariff applies to the remaining investigated economies, including China and Vietnam. No stated expiry. No Section 122-style statutory rate cap.
Why this is different from everything before
IEEPA tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court.
Section 122: ruled unlawful by the Court of International Trade, under appeal, expired by statute today.
Section 301: grounded in a 1974 statute, tested in court across decades of China tariffs, and specifically designed to address unfair trade practices.
Section 301 has a longer legal track record than its predecessor. Now that it has taken effect, the broad tariff regime on many US imports stops being temporary. It becomes open-ended. Or as permanent as any trade policy gets.
Three details most businesses are missing
Canada and Mexico. USMCA-qualifying goods were exempt from Section 122. That exemption carries across. Goods entered free of duty under USMCA remain exempt from the new Section 301 duties. Non-qualifying goods may face the additional 10 per cent. Effective today.
The postal channel. US de minimis was suspended in August 2025. What changes today is the postal process. CBP’s temporary postal duty method ends and the new postal informal entry process begins. The $800 postal threshold remains gone. Postal parcels now move through the new process or another appropriate entry type. Grounded in the Tariff Act of 1930.
Stacking. Section 301 tariffs are generally additional. On top of MFN, except where the combined rate is capped for the EU, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland. On top of existing Section 301 duties, including those already applied to China. On top of antidumping and countervailing duties. They do not apply to products covered by specified Section 232 measures. Importers who delayed shipments to clear after today, hoping to avoid Section 122, may face a Section 301 rate that is equal to or higher than what they were avoiding.
The pattern
US de minimis: suspended August 2025. New postal process begins on 24 July 2026.
EU €150 threshold: abolished on 1 July.
UK £135 threshold: confirmed for removal by October 2028.
Section 122: temporary, challenged, expired.
Section 301: open-ended, with a more established legal framework and no Section 122-style statutory rate cap.
This is not a tariff story. It is a Trade Intelligence story.
The businesses navigating this are not the ones with the best lawyers or the most aggressive brokers. They are the ones with Trade Intelligence.
Product intelligence to classify correctly under the new regime. Regulatory intelligence to know what is exempt and what is not. Commercial intelligence to calculate landed cost before an order is placed. Not after a parcel is refused at the door.
Compliance tells you what you must do. Trade Intelligence tells you what to do about it, before it becomes a problem.
That is the difference between the business that absorbs 24 July and the business that turns it into a competitive advantage.
The clock ran out today. The question is what you will do tomorrow.