US imports of Machining centers

US imports under HTS 8457 at a glance

Between March and July 2026, US importers entered $617 million of machining centers under HTS heading 8457, from 22 of the 55 origin countries covered here and across 12 ten-digit tariff lines — roughly $123 million a month of customs value under a single four-digit heading.

The heading belongs to chapter 84, machinery, mechanical appliances and computers. Classification disputes in this range usually turn on the six-digit subheading, which is where the rates start to diverge.

Who exports machining centers to the United States

Germany, Japan and South Korea together account for 82.4% of the heading. Germany leads with $244 million (39.6%), ahead of Japan at 35.9% and South Korea at 6.8%. Concentrated but not captive: alternatives exist, and buyers who qualify a second origin early keep some leverage when duties move.

European origins account for 46.8% of the heading, led by Germany, Italy and Spain. Supply from Europe here tends to be specification-driven rather than price-driven, and the shipments are smaller and more frequent than the volumes further down the table.

What importers actually paid in duty

Almost everything under this heading is dutiable: 94.7% of entered value carried duty, and CBP collected $61.4 million over the five months. The effective rate on dutiable value was 10.5%, which works out to $9.95 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, Italy paid the most duty relative to value — $15.53 per $100 — while Germany paid $5.91. On a $250,000 purchase order that gap is about $24,000 in duty alone, which is worth pricing into a sourcing decision rather than discovering on the entry summary.

The 10-digit lines under heading 8457

12 ten-digit lines carried trade under this heading in the period. The largest, 8457.10.00.75 (machining centers), took 23.3% of the heading at $144 million. 8457.10.00.15, 8457.10.00.25 and 8457.10.00.65 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 $9.95 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: Germany (8457.10.00), Japan (8457.10.00) and South Korea (8457.10.00). 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

The numbers above are a starting point, not the answer for a specific shipment: the rate depends on the exact 10-digit line, the origin, and any trade-agreement claim you can substantiate. Airlift USA arranges the ocean and air movement and coordinates classification and entry filing 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.