Section 232 Case Study

Global Heavy Equipment Manufacturer Identifies $28M in Tariff Overpayment and Unlocks Fast, Accurate Duty Workflows for Future Shipments

claw back tariffs improve complex duty management
Component-based Section 232 tariffs, stacked on Section 301 and base duty rates, left a global heavy equipment manufacturer unknowingly overpaying and underpaying duties. With Altana's AI, the manufacturer audited a full year of customs entries line by line: 31,300 entries and $1.91 billion in entered value, reconciled to CBP's ACE records to the penny.
The audit found $28.1 million in overpaid duty, recoverable through post-summary corrections and protests. This made up 8.7% of all duty the manufacturer paid, and was worth roughly $900 of overpayment per individual entry. Now, with AI-powered trade compliance workflows, the manufacturer classifies products, determines origin, validates material composition, and calculates duties 8X faster, getting tariffs right before products reach the border.

Before Altana

  • Struggled to calculate complex, component-based Section 232 tariffs on top of Section 301 and base duty rates, and to determine material composition in multi-part products with global sourcing
  • Lacked line-level visibility into broker filings, leaving USMCA and other FTA claims unfiled on more than 43,000 entry line items
  • Trade team was swamped by manual processes for origin determination, duty calculation, product classification, material composition validation, and more
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With Altana

  • Audited 31,300 entries and $1.91 billion in entered value in days, with duty broken out by tariff program so every finding traces to a specific tariff authority and recovery path
  • Identified $28.1 million in overpaid duties, making up 8.7% of total duty paid. More than $900,000 of the overpayment was connected to just three shipments
  • Flagged more than 43,000 entry line items across the 31,300 entries where USMCA or another duty-free provision applied but was never claimed
  • Cut the time spent classifying products, determining origin, and calculating Section 232 duties and tariff stacking by 8X
  • Now achieving efficient, accurate trade and tariff calculations and mitigation before products reach the border with AI-powered trade compliance workflows