CBP's Section 232 Copper Smelt and Cast Reporting Requirements Guidance

Jul. 20, 2026
By: Chaney A. Finn

U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) issued guidance for Section 232 copper smelt and cast reporting in a CSMS on July 15^th. Effective July 30, 2026, importers must report the primary country of smelt and country of cast, and may report the secondary country of smelt, for certain copper article imports covered by Proclamation 11021. This requirement applies to imports from all countries except the United States under HTSUS classifications 8544.42.10, 8544.42.20, 8544.42.90, and 8544.49.10.

This guidance stems from Proclamation 11021 that President Trump issued on April 2, 2026, under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, requiring importers to provide the countries where covered copper products were smelted and cast.

CBP will make this reporting functionality available in the ACE certification environment on July 16, 2026, and in the ACE production environment on July 30, 2026. If importers do not know the primary or secondary smelt country or the cast country, they may report "OTH" (Other).

For technical implementation, CBP references the ACE CATAIR Entry Summary Create/Update V109, which introduces Importer’s Additional Declaration Type Code 12 (Copper Smelt and Cast Country Detail). CBP also added five new ACE error codes (869–873) for missing or invalid copper smelt and cast country information. The updated ACE CATAIR will appear under the Draft Chapters: Future Capabilities section on CBP.gov. Importers with technical questions should contact their assigned CBP Client Representative, or an attorney at Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, LLP for any other trade-related questions.