Navigating 301 Tariffs and Its Potential Impact On Your Supply Chain

Tariff rates change. The mechanism doesn't.

Section 301 tariffs have been part of US-China trade since 2018, and the specific rates have been adjusted repeatedly, both upward and downward, with exclusions granted and expired. Any article quoting a particular percentage is accurate until the next revision.

What's worth understanding is how the mechanism works, which categories it reaches, and what a buyer can actually do when rates move. That part holds regardless of where the numbers land this year.

For how tariffs, export restrictions, and trade agreements work more broadly, see our post on [the impact of global trade policies on supply chains →].

What Section 301 Tariffs Are

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 gives the US Trade Representative authority to respond to foreign trade practices determined to be unfair or discriminatory.

The China investigation opened in 2017 and led to tariffs beginning in 2018, focused on concerns around intellectual property and technology transfer. Since then, the tariffs have been reviewed and revised multiple times, with rates changing across categories and exclusion processes opening and closing.

A note on terminology: these are often described as "retaliatory tariffs," but that isn't quite right. Retaliatory tariffs are what another country imposes in response. Section 301 tariffs are a response to trade practices, imposed under US law.

For current rates: the authoritative source is USTR's Section 301 China page, under Tariff Actions and Exclusion Process. Check there rather than relying on any article, including this one.

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Which Categories Are Affected

Section 301 coverage is organized into product lists identified by HTS codes, and the categories have shifted over time. Broadly, the tariffs have touched:

• Electric vehicles and EV components
• Lithium-ion batteries, both EV and non-EV
• Solar cells and renewable energy equipment
• Steel, aluminum, and critical minerals
• Semiconductors
• Certain medical supplies, including gloves, masks, syringes, and respirators
• Port equipment such as ship-to-shore cranes

That medical supplies line matters for anyone buying PPE or clinical consumables. It's also the category where rates have moved most visibly, which is why "check the current rate" is better advice than any figure printed in an article.

How Tariffs Reach a Buyer

Tariffs are paid by the importer, not the exporting country. That cost then moves through the chain in one of a few ways:

Passed through in price. The most common outcome. The tariff appears as a higher landed cost, sometimes itemized, sometimes absorbed into the unit price.

Absorbed at some point in the chain. A manufacturer or distributor may absorb part of an increase to hold a price point, usually temporarily.

Avoided by sourcing elsewhere. Where an equivalent product exists outside the affected country, sourcing shifts, though qualifying a new supplier takes time, and alternative sources often adjust their own pricing when demand moves toward them.

The practical consequence for a buyer is that landed cost on affected goods becomes less predictable, and unit price quoted at the factory door tells you less than it used to.

We’ve stockpiled high-demand medical supplies, disposable paper goods, and durable medical equipment to ensure availability when you need it most.

What Buyers Can Actually Do

Trade policy isn't controllable from a purchasing desk. These are the levers that are.

Know your countries of origin. Not just who you buy from, but where the products are actually manufactured. Two suppliers offering the same item may face very different duty treatment. If you don't know your origin mix, you can't assess your exposure.

Avoid single-country concentration in critical categories. If everything in a category comes from one country, any policy change affecting that country becomes your problem regardless of supplier quality.

Compare landed cost, not unit price. Duties, freight, and clearance are part of what an order costs. We broke this down further in [wholesale distributor vs. buying direct →].

Ask suppliers how they handle rate changes. Whether a supplier tells you in advance, absorbs increases temporarily, or passes them through immediately is worth knowing before it happens rather than after.

Understand duty drawback if you re-export. If you import goods and subsequently export them, duty drawback may allow recovery of duties paid.

How We Approach It

CHA Supply sources across categories through direct manufacturer relationships, spanning multiple countries including China and East Asia as well as domestic sources.

That breadth is the practical answer to tariff volatility: when conditions change in one sourcing country, having established relationships elsewhere means alternatives exist without starting a qualification process from scratch.

We don't claim to insulate customers from trade policy; nobody can. What we can do is tell you where products come from, flag changes we see coming, and work with you on alternatives when a category gets difficult.

As a woman-owned, WBENC-certified business, we also help institutional and government buyers meet supplier diversity requirements while sourcing across that range.

The Takeaway

Specific tariff rates will keep changing. The exposure that matters is structural: where your products come from, how concentrated that sourcing is, and whether you're comparing the right numbers when you evaluate a supplier.

Those questions are worth answering before the next rate change rather than after.

Want to talk through your sourcing mix? Contact our team at support@chasupply.com or (984) 204-1637 x17.