US imports of Electrical lighting or signaling equipment, windshield wipers

US imports under HTS 8512 at a glance

Between March and July 2026, US importers entered $2.51 billion of electrical lighting or signaling equipment, windshield wipers under HTS heading 8512, from 42 of the 55 origin countries covered here and across 16 ten-digit tariff lines — roughly $503 million a month of customs value under a single four-digit heading.

Chapter 85 covers electrical machinery, electronics and parts; heading 8512 is one of its larger entries by value, which is why the duty treatment below is worth checking line by line.

Who exports electrical lighting or signaling equipment, windshield wipers to the United States

Mexico is the largest origin with $1.11 billion, or 44.3% of the heading, with Taiwan at 11.3% and South Korea at 10.1%. The top three take 65.8% 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 and Canada sit near the top of the table, and the duty numbers reflect it: Mexico entered 81.9% of its value free of duty and Canada entered 95.2% 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

Duty treatment is split. 49.1% of the entered value was dutiable and the rest came in free, usually under a trade agreement or a duty-free provision in the tariff schedule. CBP collected $234 million in all, an effective 18.9% on the dutiable value and $9.30 per $100 of goods once the free entries are counted.

The spread between origins is real. Among origins with at least 2% of the heading, China paid the most duty relative to value — $39.41 per $100 — while Canada paid $0.75. On a $250,000 purchase order that gap is about $97,000 in duty alone, which is worth pricing into a sourcing decision rather than discovering on the entry summary.

The 10-digit lines under heading 8512

16 ten-digit lines carried trade under this heading in the period. The largest, 8512.20.20.40 (for vehicles of subheading 8701.21, 8701.22, 8701.23, 8701.24 or 8701.29 or heading 8702), took 48.8% of the heading at $1.23 billion. 8512.20.40.40, 8512.90.90.00 and 8512.90.60.00 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 $9.30 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: Taiwan (8512.20.20), South Korea (8512.20.20) and Japan (8512.20.20). 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 practical sequence is: confirm the 10-digit line against the actual goods, confirm origin under the substantial-transformation rules rather than the shipping address, then price the duty on that pair. Airlift USA moves the cargo and coordinates classification and entry filing through our licensed broker network, so the code agreed at booking is the one on the entry.

For the operational side rather than the tariff side, see the Electronics & Semiconductor Commodities guide for how this cargo moves, the China to USA lane for transit times and ports and the heading index to compare against the rest of chapter 85.