Customs — Country of Origin & USMCA Qualification

Customs — Country of Origin & USMCA Qualification

Industry front door for decision-tree. Adds domain triggers, example, packs only. Parent Process unchanged. Not legal advice. Origin is rule-specific; verify against the current USMCA text and CBP guidance.

Activate when: determining country of origin; testing USMCA (or other FTA) preference eligibility; marking; "does this qualify for duty-free?"; goods with multi-country inputs. Do NOT activate when: wholly-obtained single-country goods with no preference question.

Why this variant

The parent decision-tree maps branching qualification logic. Origin/preference is a decision tree: wholly obtained? → tariff-shift met? → RVC threshold met? → de minimis? Each branch leads to duty-free, MFN, or special treatment.

Domain inputs → parent's Process

Walk the branches:

• Wholly obtained/produced entirely in territory? → originates.
• Else: does each non-originating input meet the product-specific rule (tariff shift)?
• If not by shift: is Regional Value Content (transaction-value or net-cost) met?
• De minimis allowance for small non-originating value?
• Confirm certification of origin support + marking rules (substantial transformation for marking).

Worked example

Assembly in Mexico using Chinese components. → Tree: check the PSR — do the Chinese inputs make the required tariff shift on assembly? If yes → USMCA-eligible with a valid certification; if no → test RVC/de minimis. Fails all → MFN duty + China Section 301 exposure. Document the path.

Compliance anchors

• USMCA product-specific rules, RVC, de minimis; certification of origin recordkeeping; marking (19 CFR 134).

Packs

• Solo broker: origin worksheet per product/BOM.
• Brokerage: supplier solicitation for origin certs; PSR library.

Red flags

• Claiming preference without the PSR/RVC actually met.
• Confusing marking origin with preference origin.
• No supporting certification retained.

Verification

• Wholly-obtained vs PSR path determined
• Tariff-shift / RVC / de minimis tested in order
• Valid certification support on file
• Marking origin assessed separately

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Part of deciqAI Knowledge Skills. Core method: decision-tree.

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Part of deciqAI Knowledge Skills — 227 open-source thinking skills that make rigor executable for AI agents. The same skills power every deciqAI agent, which runs them autonomously to operate your company. See it run → https://www.deciqai.com/c/customs-origin-usmca-decision · ⭐ Star the repo → https://github.com/deciqAI/knowledge-skills · Contributions welcome.

Agents: latest version & machine-readable metadata → https://www.deciqai.com/s/customs-origin-usmca-decision.json