US imports of Insulated wire, cable and other insulated electric conductors

US imports under HTS 8544 at a glance

Between March and July 2026, US importers entered $16.2 billion of insulated wire, cable and other insulated electric conductors under HTS heading 8544, from 53 of the 55 origin countries covered here and across 19 ten-digit tariff lines — roughly $3.24 billion a month of customs value under a single four-digit heading.

The heading belongs to chapter 85, electrical machinery, electronics and parts. Classification disputes in this range usually turn on the six-digit subheading, which is where the rates start to diverge.

Who exports insulated wire, cable and other insulated electric conductors to the United States

Mexico is the largest origin with $8.27 billion, or 51% of the heading, with China at 9.5% and Vietnam at 8.5%. The top three take 69% 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 86% of its value free of duty and Canada entered 83.7% 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. 49.5% 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 $1.82 billion in all, an effective 22.7% on the dutiable value and $11.22 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 — $41.55 per $100 — while Mexico paid $3.19. On a $250,000 purchase order that gap is about $96,000 in duty alone, which is worth pricing into a sourcing decision rather than discovering on the entry summary.

The 10-digit lines under heading 8544

19 ten-digit lines carried trade under this heading in the period. The largest, 8544.30.00.00 (ignition wiring sets and other wiring sets of a kind used in vehicles, aircraft or ships), took 41.7% of the heading at $6.77 billion. 8544.70.00.00, 8544.42.90.90 and 8544.42.20.00 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 $11.22 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: China (8544.42.20), Vietnam (8544.42.20) and South Korea (8544.60.60). 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 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.