What Companies Need to Know About Delays Between Tariff Announcements and Enforcement

Article Highlights:

• Being aware of the interval between when the White House issues a new tariff proclamation and when that announcement actually becomes enforceable law can help importers strategize ways to take advantage of this time period. 
• Although executive orders and other White House proclamations may often be treated with the force of law in the media, these documents are more like memorandums notifying the public that changes to existing laws are imminent. In order to be codified into law and enforced by federal agencies and other relevant authorities, tariffs need to be published in the Federal Register. 
• Importers can act on the built-in delay between tariff announcements and actual implementation in a number of different ways, including by rushing goods over the border prior to enforcement and enacting proactive supply chain risk management (SCRM) measures to mitigate impact. 

Through the first four months of 2025, it’s clear that we’re shifting into a new era of trade—one increasingly restricted by tariffs, sanctions, export controls, and other government strictures. At the beginning of the year, the average U.S. effective tariff rate was around 2.5%. By the third week of April, that figure had ballooned to 27%. As POLITICO put it, “The effect even after Trump’s partial pause is a 10-fold increase in levies on goods imported to America.”

But what people not on the ground every day—sourcing goods, determining tariff rates, working with customs officials—don’t always realize is the sheer amount of work that goes into implementing the Trump administration’s tariffs. The memos, declarations, and proclamations that come from the White House generally don’t include many of the finer details so critical to the implementation process. And that’s because, more often than not, those finer details have not yet been settled. After the White House issues an executive order, executive action, or invokes powers from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA), there are a myriad of moving parts that need to kick into action to turn these announcements into enforceable law. These range from determining the scope and parameters of specific tariffs to updating the systems Customs and Border Protection (CBP) uses to apply tariffs at U.S. ports of entry. 

Being aware of all these steps can help explain the interval between when the White House issues a new tariff proclamation and when that announcement actually becomes enforceable law at U.S. ports of entry. Perhaps more importantly, understanding this sequence of events can also help importers recognize the lag period between announcement and implementation, and potentially look for ways to take advantage of this knowledge. 

Determining In-Scope HTS Codes 

One of the first steps that trade officials need to carry out during and immediately after a new tariff is announced is what Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes will be considered within the scope of the tariff. For across-the-board country-specific tariffs, this may not be an especially onerous task. In these cases, all goods being imported into the U.S. from a specific country that don’t have special exemptions or other carveouts will be considered in-scope. 

But for sector-specific tariffs, or tariffs targeting specific countries and industries—say, Chinese semiconductors—officials need to hammer out which HTS codes will be subject to the tariffs, and which ones will be deemed outside the trade barrier’s scope. For example, in early February Trump announced that he would be imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports. But there are countless different varieties of steel and aluminum imports. Would the tariffs cover hot-rolled steel, forged steel, coils, and rods—or only some combination thereof? And would the aluminum tariffs be covering aluminum derivative products, such as ladders, binds, and wire? These are the determinations that need to be made by trade officials before CBP can actually start imposing duty fees on imported goods. 

Finalizing Rules Around Exceptions 

Even in the midst of an escalatory global trade war, exceptions must be made to keep the gears inside international supply chains from grinding to a dead halt. Following the announcement of reciprocal tariffs in early April, the Trump administration shared a list of goods that would be exempted from the country-specific duties:

• Steel and aluminium, which became subject to a different set of tariffs in March.
• Copper
• Semiconductors
• Pharmaceuticals
• Energy and energy products, including oil and natural gas
• Bullion and gold
• “Certain minerals that are not available in the U.S.,” which referred to rare earth materials that are essential to electronics and other high-tech manufacturing. 

Publishing New Tariffs in Federal Registry

Although executive orders and other White House proclamations may often be treated with the force of law in the media, these documents are more like memorandums notifying the public that changes to existing laws are imminent. In order to be codified into law and enforced by federal agencies and other relevant authorities, tariffs need to be published in the Federal Register. Documents published in the Federal Register are significantly longer than Executive Orders and other White House communications, largely because these publications need to include all necessary details, specifics, and comprehensive guidance for enforcement. 

Documents published in the Federal Register are significantly longer than Executive Orders and other White House communications, largely because these publications need to include all necessary details, specifics, and comprehensive guidance for enforcement. 

In the case of the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariffs, the official April 2 Executive Order was around 5,000 words. In contrast, the Federal Registry notice, which was published on April 7, contained over 30,000 words. The notice included detailed sections on implementation, “Modification Authority,” “Reporting Requirements,” and “General Provisions.”

Updating CBP Systems

Finally, before full implementation and enforcement can begin, CBP and other government agencies need to configure their systems to recognize the new tariffs. These federal authorities rely on programs and databases to match the HTS codes of imports to current duty rates. Until these systems are updated to reflect the latest changes to U.S. tariff rates, full enforcement simply isn’t possible. 

What Can Importers Do With This Information?

Understanding the built-in delay between tariff announcements and actual implementation can help importers in two specific ways. First, it allows them to act on this buffer in a number of different ways:

• Rushing goods over the border before enforcement begins
• Negotiating with suppliers in an effort to share tariff costs
• Enacting proactive supply chain risk management (SCRM) measures to mitigate impact. 

The latter measure can be particularly impactful. During the period between announcement and implementation—which can last from a few days to over a month—businesses can identify the HTS codes for all their vulnerable products, begin developing strategies for reducing tariff costs, and even start exploring alternative suppliers. Recognizing and responding to this time lag is a way for companies to re-establish their agency in this highly volatile trade environment, taking assertive action to assuage risk and claw back as much profit as possible. 

Second, it provides useful context for when U.S. businesses should carry out an analysis on the potential impact of tariffs. Analyzing impact immediately after a White House announcement requires a lot of guesswork, as employees will have to make a number of assumptions about which HTS codes will be affected, what exceptions will be put in place, and other unsettled variables. Once the Federal Registry notice is published, however, those assumptions will no longer be necessary, and companies will be able to produce a more precise, credible analysis of the consequences of a given tariff. 

Reducing Tariff Risks Requires Supply Chain Visibility 

While there are a number of measures U.S. businesses can take after a new tariff is announced, few of those measures will be effective without a powerful supply chain risk management (SCRM) tool at their disposal. SCRM software like Z2Data can provide firms with the detailed supply chain mapping so crucial to understanding country dependencies and tariff vulnerabilities. In addition, Z2Data has internal data teams capable of producing comprehensive reports on a company’s dependence on specific countries, regions, and manufacturers. Using the SCRM software, organizations can:

• Assess the potential impact of an impending tariff
• Identify alternative suppliers all over the world
• Understand the direct and subtier manufacturers responsible for producing a given part, laying the groundwork for efforts to modify HTS codes through product engineering.  

While there are a number of measures U.S. businesses can take after a new tariff is announced, few of those measures will be effective without a powerful supply chain risk management (SCRM) tool at their disposal.

The current trade landscape poses arguably the greatest threat to supply chains since the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies with the most powerful data visibility tools give themselves the best chance to navigate this jagged terrain with expertise and finesse. To learn more about Z2Data and how it can help businesses respond to existing and impending ariffs, schedule a free demo with one of our product experts.