The Product
- A mobile cart for spill cleanup inside a warehouse or distribution center.
- Made of powder-coated aluminum; 81 inches long, 24 inches wide and 62 inches high.
- Six doors on one side open to storage compartments of various sizes, with pullout brackets for waste cans and clips for shovels and push brooms.
- Two pivoting wheels in front and two fixed wheels in back; pulled by hand, or moved by forklift with a pintle ring or forklift sleeves.
CBP's Ruling
| Item | HTS code | CBP's description of the line |
|---|---|---|
| Wheeled pit cart | HTS 9403.20.0086 | Other furniture and parts thereof: Other metal furniture: Other: Counters, lockers, racks, display cases, shelves, partitions and similar fixtures: Other. |
Explanation
CBP applied General Rule of Interpretation 1, which classifies goods by the words of the headings and notes. The letter cites the Explanatory Notes to Chapter 94, which describe furniture as movable articles built to stand on the floor or ground and used mainly for a utilitarian purpose to equip offices, laboratories, hospitals and similar places. CBP found the cart meets it.
CBP also found the cart isn't designed primarily to carry goods from one location to another. It stores and moves cleaning supplies within a warehouse or distribution center. So it is furniture of heading 9403.
CBP placed it on the line for other metal furniture in the group for counters, lockers, racks, shelves, partitions and similar fixtures; the cart is powder-coated aluminum with storage compartments.
Headings CBP ruled out
- heading 8716, articles designed primarily for transporting goods: The cart is used to store and move cleaning supplies within a warehouse, not to carry goods from one location to another by commercial conveyance or personal vehicle.
Does this apply to your product?
It likely does if you can answer yes to each of these:
- Is it a movable cart built to stand on the floor or ground?
- Is it made of metal, such as powder-coated aluminum?
- Does it store cleaning supplies and tools in compartments for use inside a facility?
- Is it moved within a building rather than built to carry goods between locations?
A no to any of them can mean a different code. A licensed broker can classify your product.
The code today
| HTS code | In today's schedule | Where it sits | Today's duty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9403.20.0086 | ✓ Still in the schedule | Heading 9403 › Other metal furniture | Today's duty from China |
Checked against today's tariff schedule. The duty calculator opens with the code and country filled in.
Related rulings
N330558 covers a 3-tier utility cart, N301349 a storage cart, N300508 a cart and N313927 a wheeled point-of-sale display cart, all classified under heading 9403.
- N330558February 15, 20233-tier utility cart from China9403.20.0050
- N355861November 24, 2025Fire pit table from China9403.20.0050
- N313927August 26, 2020Wheeled, point-of-sale display cart from China9403.20.0081
- N300508October 9, 2018Cart from China9403.20.0080
- N325261April 14, 2022Outdoor fire pit table with seating from China9403.20.0050
- N340149May 22, 2024The classification of a fire pit table and chair set from China9403.20.0050
- N301349November 13, 2018Storage cart from China9403.20.0080
- N317231February 12, 2021Shopping Cart Corral from China9403.20.0081
Borderless, a licensed U.S. customs brokerage, summarized CBP ruling N331285 in plain English and checked its codes against the letter and today's tariff schedule. A ruling applies only to goods that match its facts; our terms explain the rest. Terms