CBP Guidance for Section 232 Aluminum Import Instructions to Report Unknown for Country of Smelt and Cast

Trade Update • June 13, 2025

.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued updated instructions for reporting the country of smelt and cast for imports of derivative aluminum articles subject to Section 232 tariffs. This new guidance is critical for importers who do not know the country of smelt and/or cast at the time of filing.

Key Change Effective June 28, 2025

If the country of smelt or cast is unknown, importers must:

• Report “UN” (unknown) in place of the ISO country code in the Importer’s Additional Declaration Record (Record Type ‘07’).

• Declare either HTS 9903.85.67 or HTS 9903.85.68, depending on the applicable aluminum derivative classification.

• Accept a 200% ad valorem duty, the same rate imposed on imports of aluminum from Russia.

This change ensures derivative aluminum imports without full origin data are treated in line with the strictest enforcement measures under Section 232.

Reporting Instructions for Smelt and Cast

All importers of aluminum and derivative aluminum subject to Section 232 must report:

• Primary country of smelt using an ISO country code and a “Y” indicator.

• Secondary country of smelt, if applicable, also with a “Y” indicator.

• Country of most recent cast with the corresponding ISO code.

Important: Filers may not report “N” for both the primary and secondary smelt country fields. At least one must be marked as “Y”.

If the smelt and/or cast country is unknown, filers must report “UN” for that component. This automatically triggers the 200% duty treatment associated with HTS 9903.85.67 or 9903.85.68.

ACE System Updates

CBP has updated the ACE Entry Summary Create/Update CATAIR (v105) and the Entry Summary Error Dictionary to reflect these changes. Two new error codes have been added:

• 856: “UNKNOWN ALUM SMELT/CAST CTRY NOT ALLOWED”

• 60B: “HTS REQUIRED FOR UNKNOWN SMELT/CAST CTRY”

These updates will be deployed to both the Certification and Production environments on June 28, 2025, and can be reviewed in the Draft Chapters: Future Capabilities section of the ACE CATAIR webpage.

CSMS # 65340246 – GUIDANCE: Section 232 Aluminum Import Instructions for Reporting Unknown for the Country of Smelt and Cast

The information presented is general in nature, and is not intended to constitute legal advice with respect to any event or occurrence, and may not be considered as such.​​ Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. However, because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by our offices or by others, we do not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information and are not responsible for any errors, omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of such information.​ Due to the complexity of Customs Regulations, valuations are based on information currently available and should not be considered binding, we recommend obtaining National Customs Rulings in areas of uncertainty.​

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