US tariffs on Malaysia in 2026: what Malaysian goods pay now and what changed

What a US buyer pays on Malaysian goods today

US duties are owed by the importer of record, usually the US buyer, not the Malaysian exporter. The liability is a personal debt of the importer to the United States.^[7] Duties follow the country of origin and the 10-digit HTS line of the goods, not the port they ship from or the freight terms.

As of October 8, 2026, an entry of Malaysian-origin goods is built from these layers. Most shipments pay the first two, plus fees.

• The normal (Column 1 General) duty for the HTS line.^[1]
• A 10% Section 301 duty on products of Malaysia, under heading 9903.05.54, since July 24, 2026. It is added to the normal duty. Goods on the general exemption lists and on a separate Malaysia list do not pay it.^[8][1]
• Section 232 duties instead of the Section 301 duty on covered goods such as steel, aluminum, copper, vehicles and parts, and wood products including upholstered wooden furniture and kitchen cabinets.^[1]
• Antidumping or countervailing duties on goods under a Commerce order, such as solar cells and modules, steel nails, mattresses and silicon metal from Malaysia.^{[2][9][10][11]}
• Fees: the merchandise processing fee on formal entries and, for ocean freight, the harbor maintenance fee.^[12][13]

The US duty stack on goods from Malaysia, October 8, 2026

The table lists every measure that applies, or applied during 2025 and 2026, to goods of Malaysian origin. Rates are additional to the Column 1 duty unless the row says otherwise. The notes after the table explain the exemptions and how the rows combine.

Notes to the table

Each note applies to the rows named in it. The importer's licensed customs broker confirms which lines go on the entry.

• Note 1, general Section 301 exemptions. The 10% does not apply to goods listed in U.S. note 52(b) to Chapter 99 (9903.05.86). The list includes computers and their parts (8471, 8473.30), smartphones (8517.13.00), network equipment (8517.62.00), solid-state storage (8523.51.00), semiconductor manufacturing machines (8486), most diode, transistor and integrated-circuit lines of 8541 and 8542, and natural rubber (4001). Solar cells and modules (8541.42, 8541.43) and rubber gloves (4015) are not on it. Nor does the duty apply to the 16 articles in note 52(c), qualifying civil aircraft and parts, listed articles for pharmaceutical use, donations or informational materials.^[1]
• Note 2, Malaysia-only exemptions. U.S. note 52(j)(4) exempts a further list of Malaysian goods (9903.05.99 and 9903.06.01). It includes crude and other palm oil (1511.10.00, 1511.90.00), palm kernel oil (1513.29.00), coconut or copra oilcake (2306.50.00), industrial fatty acids (3823.11.00, 3823.12.00, 3823.19.20, 3823.70.40), meranti logs (4403.41.00), tropical wood and some plywood lines of heading 4412, rattan and bamboo plaiting materials and basketwork, cork, silk, pearls, diamonds and other gemstones, some live animals and cut flowers, and psyllium husks, boswellia and argan oil.^[1] An exemption covers only the 8-digit lines listed.
• Note 3, Section 232 and Section 301. Goods that pay a Section 232 duty on metals, cars and light trucks and their parts, medium and heavy trucks and their parts, wood products, patented pharmaceuticals or covered semiconductors are exempt from the Section 301 duty (9903.05.90). Newer Section 232 programs such as drones are not on that list.^[1]
• Note 4, stacking. Goods that pay the 10% also pay any other additional duty in Chapter 99 subchapters III and IV, except where U.S. note 52 says otherwise, and they stay subject to antidumping and countervailing duties.^[1] A Section 301 exemption does not lift an antidumping or countervailing duty.
• Note 5, in-transit rule. Goods loaded on the vessel before 12:01 a.m. ET on July 24, 2026 and entered before 12:01 a.m. ET on July 28, 2026 were exempt from the Section 301 duty (9903.05.85).^[1]
• Note 6, Section 122. The surcharge did not apply on top of Section 232 duties; on a product partly covered by 232, it applied only to the part 232 did not cover.^[5]

Section 301: the 10% forced-labor duty on Malaysian goods

On July 28, 2026 USTR published actions in its Section 301 investigations of 60 economies over failure to impose and effectively enforce a ban on imports made with forced labor.^[8] USTR had found that Malaysia has no such ban, and proposed the lower 10% rate for Malaysia and the other economies that had committed to one in an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade.^[22] Malaysia's agreement requires it to adopt and implement that prohibition within two years of the agreement's entry into force.^[23]

The 10% is added to the normal duty; it is not a total rate net of the normal duty as it is for Taiwan and the EU.^[1] So a Malaysian good with a 5% General rate pays 15%, and a duty-free good pays 10%, unless an exemption applies.

Textiles and apparel. The President directed USTR to set up tariff-rate quotas for Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia, for an initial 3 years, that would let a volume of specific textiles and apparel enter free of the Section 301 duty based on each country's imports of US cotton and textile inputs. Until the quotas exist, those goods pay the 10%.^[24] As of October 8, 2026 we found no Federal Register notice establishing them.

This is not the China Section 301 program. The China lists, exclusions and rates are covered in our Section 301 guide.

Semiconductors, solar panels, rubber gloves and palm oil

Malaysia's largest export groups land in very different places in the duty stack. Check the 8-digit line, not the product family.

• Semiconductors and electronics. Integrated circuits (8542.31, 8542.32, 8542.33, 8542.39), most discrete semiconductors of 8541, computers and their parts (8471, 8473.30), solid-state storage (8523.51.00), network equipment (8517.62.00) and chip-making machines (8486) are in the note 52(b) exemption list, so they pay no Section 301 duty.^[1] Where the Column 1 rate is also free, as it is for many of these lines, the entry pays no duty beyond fees.^[1] Electronics outside the list, such as static converters (8504.40), pay the 10%.^[1]
• Section 232 semiconductors. Since January 15, 2026, heading 9903.79.01 adds 25% to logic integrated circuits, and articles containing them, classified in 8471.50, 8471.80 or 8473.30 that fall within two narrow performance and memory-bandwidth bands set out in U.S. note 39. Headings 9903.79.02 to 9903.79.09 exempt covered chips bound for US data centers, repair, research, startups and several other US uses. The duty applies to all origins; Malaysia has no partner line.^[16][1]
• Solar cells and modules. Crystalline silicon cells and modules (8541.42, 8541.43) are not in the exemption list, so they pay the 10%.^[1] They are also under antidumping and countervailing duty orders on Malaysia published June 24, 2025, and cells and modules made in Malaysia from certain Chinese inputs can fall under the China solar orders after Commerce's 2023 circumvention findings.^[2][25][26]
• Rubber gloves. Gloves of heading 4015, medical gloves included, are not on either exemption list, so Malaysian gloves pay the 10% on top of the normal duty.^[1] Natural rubber itself (4001) is exempt.^[1] See medical gloves from Malaysia.
• Palm oil and palm products. Crude and other palm oil (1511.10.00, 1511.90.00), palm kernel oil of 1513.29.00 and industrial fatty acids are on the Malaysia exemption list; the normal duty for the line still applies.^[1]
• Furniture. Upholstered wooden furniture and kitchen cabinets and vanities pay the Section 232 rate of 25% instead of the Section 301 duty; the rates rise to 30% and 50% on January 1, 2027, except for countries that reach an agreement with the United States on wood products. Malaysia has no partner line. Furniture that no Section 232 program covers pays the 10%.^[15][27][1]

Section 232 as it applies to Malaysian goods

Section 232 duties apply by product, at the general rate for every origin unless a proclamation sets a partner rate. HTS Revision 20 has no Section 232 line specific to Malaysia, so Malaysian steel, aluminum, copper, cars and auto parts, trucks, furniture and other covered goods pay the general rates.^[1] Since April 6, 2026, steel and aluminum articles and Annex I-A derivatives pay 50% of the full customs value, not only the metal content.^[3]

Patented pharmaceuticals pay the general rate, 100% for most companies (9903.04.60); Malaysia is not in the 15% partner line.^[1] Commerce lists Malaysia among the jurisdictions eligible for a zero Section 232 rate on certain specialty pharmaceuticals.^[28] From December 4, 2026, polysilicon and its derivatives come under a minimum import price program, and ingots and derivatives also pay an additional 15%; Malaysia is not among the partners whose total is capped at 15%.^[29] Full rates, lines and dates are in our Section 232 guide.

The US-Malaysia Agreement on Reciprocal Trade: what is official

The United States and Malaysia signed their Agreement on Reciprocal Trade on October 26, 2025.^[6][23] In it, the United States agreed not to apply the IEEPA reciprocal tariff to the Malaysian goods listed in its schedule and to hold it at no more than 19% on all other originating goods of Malaysia, on top of the MFN rate.^[23] The agreement enters into force 60 days after both governments exchange written notice that their legal procedures are complete.^[23]

Those tariff terms were written against the IEEPA reciprocal tariff, which ended on February 24, 2026.^[4] As of October 8, 2026 we found no Federal Register notice of entry into force and no US tariff line that applies the agreement's rates; the only Malaysia IEEPA lines in the HTS are the 24% heading (9903.01.53), marked terminated, and the 19% heading (9903.02.39), which CBP stopped collecting on entries from February 24, 2026.^[1][4] Treat any deal rate as unsettled until it appears in the Federal Register or a CBP message.

The agreement does matter for the Section 301 duty. USTR set Malaysia's rate at 10% rather than 12.5% because of Malaysia's commitment in the agreement to prohibit imports made with forced labor, and the Malaysia exemption list in note 2 comes from the same action.^[22][24][1]

What changed, and what is scheduled: April 2025 to December 2026

Each date is the first day the change applied, or applies, to goods entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouse, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time unless noted.

• April 5, 2025. 10% IEEPA baseline tariff on goods from nearly all countries, including Malaysia.^[19]
• April 9, 2025. Malaysia's country rate of 24% under Executive Order 14257 takes effect (9903.01.53); it is suspended the next day, and Malaysian goods go back to 10%.^[20][1][30]
• June 24, 2025. Commerce publishes antidumping and countervailing duty orders on solar cells and modules from Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.^[2][25]
• August 7, 2025. Malaysia's reciprocal rate is set at 19% on top of the normal duty (9903.02.39).^[21][1]
• August 29, 2025. Duty-free de minimis treatment is suspended for goods from all countries, Malaysia included.^[31]
• October 14, 2025. Section 232 duties of 25% on upholstered wooden furniture and on kitchen cabinets and vanities begin.^[15]
• October 26, 2025. The United States and Malaysia sign their Agreement on Reciprocal Trade in Kuala Lumpur.^[6][23]
• January 15, 2026. 25% Section 232 duty on a narrow set of advanced semiconductors (9903.79.01).^[16]
• February 20, 2026. The Supreme Court holds in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs. Executive Order 14389 ends the IEEPA tariff actions the same day.^[32][33]
• February 24, 2026. CBP stops collecting IEEPA duties (from 12:00 a.m. ET). The 10% Section 122 surcharge starts at 12:01 a.m. ET.^[4][18]
• April 6, 2026. Section 232 metals duties move to the full customs value. Commerce publishes a countervailing duty order on float glass from Malaysia the same day.^[3][34]
• July 24, 2026. The Section 122 surcharge expires, and the 10% Section 301 forced-labor duty on Malaysia begins.^[5][8]
• September 29, 2026. Section 232 duties on patented pharmaceuticals apply to all companies.^[35]
• December 4, 2026. Section 232 action on polysilicon and its derivatives begins.^[29]
• January 1, 2027. Section 232 duty on upholstered wooden furniture scheduled to rise to 30%, and on kitchen cabinets and vanities to 50%.^[27]

IEEPA and Section 122: the ended tariffs and refunds

Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025 listed Malaysia at 24%.^[20] That rate applied for one day before the 90-day pause, so Malaysian goods paid the 10% baseline until August 7, 2025, then 19% on top of the normal duty under heading 9903.02.39.^[30][21][1] Section 232 goods, and products such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and energy listed in Annex II, were outside the reciprocal tariff.^[19]

On February 20, 2026 the Supreme Court held that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, and CBP stopped collecting all IEEPA duties on goods entered from February 24, 2026. Section 232 and Section 301 duties were not affected.^[32][4]

IEEPA duties already paid on Malaysian goods are being refunded with interest through CBP's CAPE process. Only the importer of record, or the licensed customs broker that filed the entries, can file a CAPE declaration, and refunds go to the importer of record or to the party it designated as the notify party on CBP Form 4811 or in its ACE Portal account.^[36] A Malaysian exporter that was not the importer of record has no claim of its own. See the tariff refund guide for the steps and deadlines, and get an IEEPA refund estimate for what your entries paid.

Section 122. Proclamation 11012 replaced the IEEPA tariffs with a 10% surcharge on most imports under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, reported under 9903.03.01, for goods entered from February 24, 2026 through July 24, 2026, with exemptions listed in its annexes. Malaysia had no separate rate.^[5][18]

The Court of International Trade held the Section 122 duties unlawful on May 7, 2026, but ordered relief only for the three plaintiffs it found had standing.^[37] On June 11, 2026 the Federal Circuit stayed that judgment while the government appeals.^[38] As of October 8, 2026, CBP's refund page describes CAPE as a process for IEEPA duties.^[36] Our Section 122 refund status page tracks the appeal and totals what your entries paid.

Antidumping and countervailing duties on Malaysian goods

Antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CVD) duties are set product by product and often company by company, and they apply on top of every other duty, including for goods exempt from the Section 301 duty.^[1][17] Orders in force on Malaysian goods include:

• Crystalline silicon solar cells and modules, AD and CVD, since June 24, 2025.^[2][25]
• Steel nails: Commerce found in September 2026 that revoking the order would likely lead to continued dumping.^[9]
• Mattresses, since May 2021; Commerce published final results of the first sunset review on July 31, 2026.^[10][39]
• Silicon metal, continued in September 2026.^[11]
• Float glass products (CVD), since April 6, 2026.^[34]
• Paper shopping bags, since July 2024.^[40]
• Others include ferrosilicon, utility scale wind towers, polyethylene retail carrier bags and welded stainless pressure pipe. Browse the full list in our AD/CVD lookup.

De minimis and fees

De minimis. Low-value shipments from Malaysia no longer enter duty-free under the de minimis rule; the exemption has been suspended for every country since August 29, 2025.^[31][41] Our de minimis guide covers the entry types and dates.

Fees. The merchandise processing fee is 0.3464% of the value of a formal entry, within a per-entry minimum and maximum that reset on October 1, 2026.^[12] The harbor maintenance fee is 0.125% of the value of commercial cargo unloaded from a vessel at a covered US port; it applies to ocean freight, not air.^[13] See US customs clearance for how entries are handled.

How to find the rate for your product

The duty depends on the 10-digit HTS line and the entry date. These steps get you to an estimate. Your licensed customs broker confirms it on the entry.

1. Classify the product to 10 digits with the HTS code finder.
2. Open the tariff simulator with Malaysia as origin, enter the code and the entry date, and it lists the Column 1 duty, each Chapter 99 duty in force on that date, MPF and HMF.
3. Compare with ready-made pages for common Malaysian exports, such as processors, solid-state storage, computer parts, chip-making machines and medical gloves, or browse import duty by HTS code.
4. Check whether the line is in the Section 301 exemption lists or covered by Section 232 or an antidumping or countervailing duty order. The AD/CVD lookup lists the orders by product and country.
5. Ask the importer's licensed customs broker to confirm the Chapter 99 lines before the goods ship.