Trigger Levels for Additional Duties Updated
The Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service has updated the quantity-based trigger levels for products that may be subject to additional import duties under the safeguard provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture. This notice also includes the relevant period applicable for trigger levels on each of the affected products, which include beef, mutton, cheese, dairy products, peanuts and peanut butter, sugar and sugar products, cocoa powder, chocolate crumb, infant formula, mixes and doughs, condiments and seasonings, ice cream, animal feed, and cotton.
Under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, additional import duties may be imposed on imports of products subject to tariffs as a result of the Uruguay Round if the price of an individual shipment of imported products falls below the average price for similar goods imported during the years 1986-1988 by a specified percentage. It also permits additional duties to be imposed if the volume of imports of an article exceeds the sum of (a) a base trigger level multiplied by the average of the last three years of available import data and (b) the change in yearly consumption in the most recent year for which data are available. These additional duties may not be imposed on quantities for which minimum or current access commitments were made during the Uruguay Round negotiations, and only one type of safeguard (price or quantity) may be applied at any given time to an article.
Poultry
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has imposed restrictions on imports of avian commodities from the following areas as of the dates indicated due to concerns about highly-pathogenic avian influenza.
Japan
- Okayama prefecture (Dec. 20, 2025)
- Kyoto prefecture (Dec. 24, 2025)
- Ibaraki prefecture (Dec. 25, 2025)
- Hokkaido prefecture (Dec. 29, 2025)
- Saitama prefecture (Dec. 30, 2025)
- Miyazaki prefecture (Jan. 2, 2026)
Canada
- zone PCZ-315 in Ontario (Dec. 15, 2025)
- zone PCZ-316 in Alberta (Dec. 5, 2025)
- zone PCZ-317 in British Columbia (Dec. 12, 2025)
- zone PCZ-318 in Saskatchewan (Dec. 12, 2025)
These restrictions include the following.
- Importation of poultry, commercial birds, ratites, avian hatching eggs, unprocessed avian products and byproducts, and certain fresh poultry products is prohibited.
- Importation as cargo of processed avian products and byproducts must be accompanied by an APHIS import permit and/or government certification confirming that the goods were treated in accordance with APHIS requirements.
- Importation as cargo of fresh, unprocessed shell/table eggs and egg products, void of the shell (e.g., liquid eggs and dried egg whites) is prohibited unless they are consigned from the port of arrival directly to an APHIS-approved breaking and pasteurization facility. An import permit and/or certificate is not required in such cases.
APHIS has also removed restrictions on imports of poultry and related products originating from the following areas as of the dates indicated.
- Tottori prefecture in Japan (Jan. 4, 2026)
- zones PCZ-257 in British Columbia, PCZ-285 in Manitoba, PCZ-FV11 in British Columbia, and PCZ-300 in Alberta (Dec. 23, 2025)
- zones PCZ-281 in Manitoba, PCZ-282 in Manitoba, PCZ-288 in Manitoba, PCZ-290 in Manitoba, PCZ-294 in Alberta, PCZ-295 in Alberta, PCZ-297 in British Columbia, PCZ-303 in Alberta, PCZ-305 in Saskatchewan, and PCZ-306 in Alberta (Jan. 6, 2026)
Beef
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has determined to modify the allocations of the in-quota quantity under the annual tariff-rate quota on beef, effective Jan. 1, to (1) set the “other countries or areas” TRQ allocation at 52,005 metric tons and (2) establish an annual United Kingdom country-specific quota of 13,000 metric tons.
Fruit Trees
APHIS has drafted a pest risk assessment describing potential quarantine pests associated with the importation of Prunus spp. (flowering trees and shrubs that produce stone fruits like peaches, cherries, and almonds) cuttings from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. APHIS is accepting through Feb. 3 any information that might lead it to revise the draft assessment before it identifies pest mitigations and proceeds with the commodity import approval process.
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