Building Products

• Trade and Tariffs
• Tariff Elimination

Trade and Tariffs

The building products sector includes various building and construction products found in chapters 25, 68 to 70 and 94 of the Harmonized Tariff System. Building products accounted for 0.39 percent of total U.S. exports to Australia in 2003, totaling $49 million. The top U.S. exports in this sector are glassware, ceramics and graphite. Australia’s tariffs range between zero and 15 percent with an average of 3.3 percent in 2003.

Australian exports to the United States in this sector totaled $18 million in 2003, or 0.32 percent of the total exports to the United States. Australia’s top exports to the United States in this sector are glassware, ceramic or porcelain machinery parts and cement or concrete floor and wall tiles. U.S. duties on building products range from zero to 38 percent with an average of 2.3 percent in 2003.

Tariff Elimination

Australia eliminated all tariffs immediately upon implementation of this agreement, while the United States is using four staging categories. U.S. tariffs for this sector will be eliminated in four staging categories: immediately, four year linear staging, eight year linear staging and 10 year linear staging.

Overall, 93 percent of U.S. imports in this sector will be duty-free immediately. Tariffs on 4 percent of U.S. exports will be eliminated over four years. Tariffs on 3 percent of U.S. exports will be eliminated over eight years and less than one percent (0.31) will be eliminated over 10 years.