User Guide

What is USMCA?

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaced NAFTA in 2020, requires that goods meet specific “rules of origin” to qualify for preferential (often duty-free) treatment between the three countries. These rules ensure that only goods substantially produced or transformed within North America receive the benefits of the agreement.

This application tracks the product-specific rules defined in Annex 4-B of the USMCA treaty, including Regional Value Content (RVC) thresholds for both the Transaction Value and Net Cost calculation methods, tariff shift requirements, and the phased automotive appendix thresholds.

Product-Specific Rules

Each product covered by the USMCA has a specific rule that defines one or more of the following requirements:

• Regional Value Content (RVC)— A minimum percentage of the product’s value must originate in the USMCA region. Rules specify the percentage and the calculation method (Transaction Value or Net Cost).
• Tariff Shift— Non-originating materials must undergo a specified change in tariff classification during production (CC, CTH, or CTSH).
• Process Requirements— Some products must undergo specific manufacturing processes within the region (e.g., chemical reactions for Chapter 28–38).

Many rules offer alternatives: a tariff shift alone, or a tariff shift combined with an RVC threshold. When both Transaction Value and Net Cost thresholds are specified, they appear as conditions (a) and (b) in the rule text, each shown as a separate row in the rules table.

HTS Number Structure

Rules reference HTS codes at various levels of specificity:

• Chapter (2 digits)— Broadest category. Chapter 87 covers “Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock.”
• Heading (4 digits)— More specific grouping. Heading 8703 covers motor cars for passenger transport.
• Subheading (6 digits)— Internationally harmonized level (e.g., 8703.23 for 1,500–3,000 cc engines).
• Tariff item (8+ digits)— US-specific level (e.g., 4009.12 for rubber hoses with fittings).

Rules may apply to a single code (e.g., 4009.12) or a range (e.g., 2801.10-2853.00).

The Dashboard is the landing page with a search interface for quickly finding USMCA rules of origin.

Search Interface

Type an HTS code, chapter number, or keyword to search across all product-specific rules. Results appear in a dropdown as you type, showing the HTS prefix, RVC percentage, and qualification method for each matching rule. Press Enter or click a result to see the full detail panel.

Quick Actions

Below the search bar, quick action chips provide shortcuts to common views:

• Dual Thresholds — Rules offering both TV and NC methods
• Ch. 87 Vehicles — Automotive rules with appendix references
• Net Cost Method — Rules requiring the net cost calculation
• Compare Releases — View changes between USMCA releases

A status bar at the bottom shows the total rule count, chapter coverage, and last sync timestamp.

The Rules page displays all USMCA product-specific rules in a filterable, paginated table. Each row represents one qualification method for an HTS code.

Table Columns

• HTS Prefix — The HTS code or range the rule applies to. Multi-condition rules show a condition label badge (A, B).
• Chapter — The 2-digit chapter number.
• RVC Threshold — The minimum regional value content percentage (e.g., 60%).
• Qualification Method — Transaction Value (blue) or Net Cost (amber).
• Table — Automotive appendix table references (A.1, B, C, D, E, F, G) if applicable.
• Implication — Upcoming threshold changes for automotive phased rules.
• Dual — Badge shown when an HTS prefix has both TV and NC qualification methods.

Filtering and Search

The filter bar supports:

• Chapter filter — Show rules for a specific HS chapter.
• RVC Method filter — Transaction Value or Net Cost only.
• Tariff Shift filter — CC, CTH, CTSH, or CS.
• Text search — Search across HTS prefixes and rule text.
• CSV export — Download all rules as a spreadsheet.

Rule Detail Panel

Click any row to open the detail panel showing:

• Rule summary with RVC percentage, method, tariff shift, and exceptions
• Automotive appendix thresholds (if linked to Tables A.1–G) with phase timeline
• Full raw rule text from the USMCA treaty
• Document location in the treaty structure
• Referenced notes and cross-references
• Change history across releases

Calculation Methods

There are two methods for calculating Regional Value Content:

When a rule specifies both methods, they appear as (a) Transaction Value and (b) Net Cost with different percentage thresholds. The TV threshold is typically higher than NC because the transaction value denominator includes profit margin.

Tariff Shift Requirements

Three levels of tariff shift, from most to least stringent:

• CC (Change in Chapter)— Non-originating materials must be in a different 2-digit chapter. Example: raw cotton (Ch. 52) into a shirt (Ch. 62).
• CTH (Change to Heading)— Materials must be in a different 4-digit heading. Example: steel bars (7215) into steel screws (7318).
• CTSH (Change to Subheading)— Materials must be in a different 6-digit subheading. The least restrictive tariff shift.

Automotive Appendix

The USMCA includes special phased RVC requirements for automotive goods in the Appendix to Annex 4-B. Seven tables define escalating thresholds:

• Tables A.1 & B — Core and principal parts for passenger vehicles/light trucks (75% NC / 85% TV final)
• Table C — Complementary parts for passenger vehicles (65% NC / 75% TV final)
• Tables D & E — Parts for heavy trucks (70% NC / 80% TV final)
• Tables F & G — Parts for other vehicles (62.5% NC)

Rules for HS codes listed in these tables reference the appendix via footnotes (e.g., “If the good is for use in a vehicle of Chapter 87, the provisions of the Appendix apply”). The detail panel shows both the chapter-level rule thresholds and the automotive appendix phased thresholds.

The Changes page compares two USMCA releases to show rule differences: added, removed, or modified rules.

Selecting Releases

Use the “From” and “To” dropdowns to choose which releases to compare. The system auto-selects the most recent pair if available.

Change Types

• ADDED — A new rule that did not exist in the earlier release.
• REMOVED — A rule no longer present in the new release.
• MODIFIED — RVC percentage, method, tariff shift, or rule text changed.

The Chat page provides an AI assistant that answers questions about USMCA rules of origin, RVC thresholds, and qualification requirements using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).

How It Works

1. Your question is converted into a vector embedding.
2. The system retrieves the most similar rules and threshold data from the database.
3. Retrieved results are reranked for relevance.
4. Claude generates a natural-language answer using the retrieved context.

Example Questions

• “What are the USMCA rules of origin for rubber hoses under 4009.12?”
• “What is the RVC threshold for auto parts in Chapter 87?”
• “Does heading 30.04 require Transaction Value or Net Cost?”
• “What changed for automotive appendix Table C thresholds?”
• “Which chapters have both TV and NC qualification methods?”

The Config page manages the data sync pipeline that imports and processes USMCA rules of origin.

Sync Pipeline

The “Full Update” button triggers a multi-step pipeline:

Data Sources

• USTR Treaty PDF— The official USMCA Chapter 4 document from ustr.gov, containing both Annex 4-B product rules and the automotive appendix tables.
• Docling— AI-powered document extraction service that converts the PDF into structured markdown for parsing.

HTS Chapter Groups

The HTS is organized into 97 chapters grouped by product category: