US imports of Electrical transformers, static converters and inductors

US imports under HTS 8504 at a glance

Between March and July 2026, US importers entered $15.2 billion of electrical transformers, static converters and inductors under HTS heading 8504, from 53 of the 55 origin countries covered here and across 55 ten-digit tariff lines — roughly $3.04 billion a month of customs value under a single four-digit heading.

Heading 8504 sits in chapter 85, electrical machinery, electronics and parts, so anything classified here shares a duty structure with the rest of that chapter.

Who exports electrical transformers, static converters and inductors to the United States

No single country owns this heading. Mexico is the largest origin at 19.1% ($2.91 billion), but the top three combined reach only 39.9% and 53 origins ship into the heading at all. Sourcing this spread out usually means the specification is broadly available and switching origins is a commercial decision rather than an engineering one.

Mexico and Canada sit near the top of the table, and the duty numbers reflect it: Mexico entered 56.2% of its value free of duty and Canada entered 50% 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: 80.7% of entered value carried duty, and CBP collected $1.78 billion over the five months. The effective rate on dutiable value was 14.5%, which works out to $11.69 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, China paid the most duty relative to value — $33.47 per $100 — while Japan paid $7.23. On a $250,000 purchase order that gap is about $66,000 in duty alone, which is worth pricing into a sourcing decision rather than discovering on the entry summary.

The 10-digit lines under heading 8504

55 ten-digit lines carried trade under this heading in the period. The largest, 8504.40.95.80 (other), took 12.2% of the heading at $1.86 billion. 8504.23.00.80, 8504.40.60.18 and 8504.40.95.70 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 $11.69 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: Thailand (8504.40.95), China (8504.40.95) and Taiwan (8504.40.95). 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 8504 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 Electronics & Semiconductor Commodities guide for how this cargo moves, the Thailand to USA lane for transit times and ports and the heading index to compare against the rest of chapter 85.