US imports of Compression-ignition internal combustion piston engines

US imports under HTS 8408 at a glance

Between March and July 2026, US importers entered $2.43 billion of compression-ignition internal combustion piston engines under HTS heading 8408, from 38 of the 55 origin countries covered here and across 17 ten-digit tariff lines — roughly $485 million a month of customs value under a single four-digit heading.

Heading 8408 sits in chapter 84, machinery, mechanical appliances and computers, so anything classified here shares a duty structure with the rest of that chapter.

Who exports compression-ignition internal combustion piston engines to the United States

Mexico is the largest origin with $764 million, or 31.5% of the heading, with United Kingdom at 20% and Japan at 13.6%. The top three take 65.1% between them — enough concentration to matter when one origin's duty treatment changes, but not so much that a buyer has no alternative to qualify.

Mexico sits near the top of the table, and the duty numbers reflect it: Mexico entered 22.8% of its value free of duty. Cargo that qualifies under USMCA and is claimed correctly at entry pays nothing; cargo that does not qualify, or that is never claimed, pays the ordinary rate. The certification is the whole difference.

What importers actually paid in duty

Almost everything under this heading is dutiable: 89.4% of entered value carried duty, and CBP collected $219 million over the five months. The effective rate on dutiable value was 10.1%, which works out to $9.02 of duty per $100 of goods. There is no meaningful duty-free channel here — classification and origin are the only levers.

The spread between origins is real. Among origins with at least 2% of the heading, France paid the most duty relative to value — $13.77 per $100 — while Mexico paid $4.51. On a $250,000 purchase order that gap is about $23,000 in duty alone, which is worth pricing into a sourcing decision rather than discovering on the entry summary.

The 10-digit lines under heading 8408

17 ten-digit lines carried trade under this heading in the period. The largest, 8408.20.20.00, took 33.6% of the heading at $814 million. 8408.90.90.10, 8408.90.90.50 and 8408.90.90.30 follow. Rates diverge between those lines, so the classification your broker files is worth checking against the goods rather than carried over from the last entry.

What the duty stack looks like

The rate on an entry is not one number. It is a stack: the general (column 1) rate for the 10-digit line, less any trade-agreement preference the goods qualify for, plus whatever additional duties apply to that product and origin, all applied to the customs value declared. The $9.02 per $100 above is what that stack averaged across every entry in this heading — a benchmark, not a quote.

For the origins carrying the most volume, the per-country breakdowns go a level deeper: United Kingdom (8408.90.90), Japan (8408.90.90) and Germany (8408.90.90). To price a specific shipment, put your 10-digit code and country of origin into the tariff simulator.

What this means for your next shipment

Classify first, confirm origin second, quote freight third. A heading like 8408 rewards that order, because the duty differences between lines and between origins are usually larger than the freight differences on the same lane. Airlift USA handles the freight and coordinates classification and entry through our licensed broker network.

For the operational side rather than the tariff side, see the Heavy Machinery & Industrial Equipment guide for how this cargo moves, the Italy to USA lane for transit times and ports and the heading index to compare against the rest of chapter 84.