The U.S. International Trade Commission
Summary
The trade-injury referee that decides whether dumped or subsidized imports hurt U.S. industries obligated $130.0 million and 433 people in FY2025 -- about 38 cents per U.S. resident -- while Congress has held its FY2026 appropriation near $122 million for a fourth straight flat year.
What is this organization?
What does it do?
The Commission decides whether dumped or subsidized imports injure a U.S. industry -- the step Commerce's duty calculations alone cannot take. In FY2025 it instituted 91 and completed 89 antidumping and countervailing-duty investigations and reviews⧉, a record caseload. Separately, its judges and commissioners decided unfair-import cases under Section 337 -- patent, trademark and trade-secret disputes at the border -- instituting 57 and completing 69 in FY2025⧉, work the Commission reports accounts for nearly a quarter of all U.S. patent trials⧉. The Commission also published the Harmonized Tariff Schedule 26 times in FY2025, drafting nomenclature for more than 40 tariff actions⧉.
What does it cost to run — money and people?
USITC obligated $130.0 million in FY2025, funding 433 full-time staff⧉ -- about 38 cents per U.S. resident, measured against the Census Bureau's 341.8 million residents⧉ as of July 2025. Congress has held the agency near $122 million for a fourth straight year in FY2026⧉; the Commission says that level supports only about 412 FTEs, while its workload requires an estimated 441⧉.
View data as table
| Import injury (AD/CVD) investigations | 46,101 | 35.5% of FY2025 obligations |
|---|---|---|
| Unfair import (Section 337) investigations | 44,206 | 34.0% of FY2025 obligations |
| Industry and economic analysis | 27,238 | 20.9% of FY2025 obligations |
| Trade policy support | 7,045 | 5.4% of FY2025 obligations |
| Tariff and trade information (HTS) | 5,440 | 4.2% of FY2025 obligations |
Why is it good for society?
The Commission is the injury check in U.S. trade-remedy law: Commerce alone can find dumping or a subsidy, but no antidumping or countervailing duty order takes effect unless USITC independently finds a domestic industry is materially injured⧉ -- and the Commission revokes existing orders⧉ it decides no longer guard against real injury, so duties do not become permanent by default. Its Section 337 exclusion orders⧉ also give patent and trade-secret holders a forum built for short product cycles⧉, backed by independent litigation authority before the Court of International Trade and the Federal Circuit.
- USITC's FY2025 actual obligations ($130.0M) work out to about 38 cents per U.S. resident; the FY2026 appropriation (~$122M) is roughly $8M lower, the 4th consecutive flat year.
- The Commission's own staffing estimate: $122M supports about 412 FTEs against a projected FY2026-27 workload need of 441 -- a gap it has flagged risks missed AD/CVD deadlines and slower IP relief.
Your handles.* Every antidumping/countervailing-duty petition, Section 337 complaint, and investigation record USITC decides is public and searchable through EDIS, the Commission's electronic document system. To look up or comment on current U.S. tariff rates, use the Harmonized Tariff Schedule search tool -- HTS Help fielded 5,522 inquiries in FY2025. For anything else, USITC's Public Affairs Office⧉ (publicaffairs@usitc.gov) is the standing point of contact.
Sources(4) ▾
- U.S. International Trade Commission, United States International Trade Commission Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Justification (2026-02-11) — USITC's own FY2027 congressional budget justification, submitted with the FY2027 President's Budget -- gives FY2025 ACTUAL obligations and staffing, the FY2026 estimate, the FY2027 request, the Commissioners' structure, and detailed antidumping/countervailing-duty, Section 337, and Harmonized Tariff Schedule workload statistics. usitc.gov blocks non-browser fetches (HTTP 403 to both this newsroom's fetch tools and a browser-UA curl request); the capture above is a fresh Wayback save requested at read time on 2026-07-16, which succeeded (unlike the 520 this newsroom has seen on some other large federal PDFs). usitc.gov · original document
- U.S. International Trade Commission, About the USITC (2026-04-12) — USITC's own 'About the USITC' page -- states the Commission's three mission areas, its six Commissioners, and that the legislation founding the Tariff Commission (later USITC) was signed September 8, 1916. Direct fetch blocked (403); the Wayback capture above (2026-04-12, the most recent snapshot at the time of writing) is the one-click original-document link. usitc.gov · original document
- U.S. Government Publishing Office / Office of the Law Revision Counsel (via govinfo.gov), Trade Act of 1974 [Public Law 93-618, as amended] -- Office of the Law Revision Counsel compilation (COMPS-10384) (2026-02-10) — GPO's official current compilation of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended through P.L. 119-75 (enacted Feb. 3, 2026). Chapter 7, Sec. 171 (19 U.S.C. 2231) is the statute that renamed the U.S. Tariff Commission -- established by Section 330 of the Tariff Act of 1930 -- as the U.S. International Trade Commission. Fetched directly (govinfo.gov did not block this newsroom's tools); the Wayback capture above is the one-click original-document link. govinfo.gov · original document
- U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Population Growth Slows Due to Historic Decline in Net International Migration (Vintage 2025 national population estimate) (2026-01-27) — The Census Bureau's own Vintage 2025 national population estimate release, giving the U.S. resident population as of July 1, 2025 -- the per-resident denominator for this entry's cost-per-person KPI, per better_metrics.md's sourced-denominator discipline. Same source already sealed for this series' entry. census.gov · original document
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The U.S. International Trade Commission is an independent, nonpartisan federal agency, founded as the U.S. Tariff Commission on September 8, 1916⧉ and reconstituted under Section 330 of the Tariff Act of 1930⧉, which the Trade Act of 1974 renamed⧉ the U.S. International Trade Commission. Six commissioners, nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to staggered nine-year terms, head the agency; no more than three may belong to the same political party⧉, by statute. It sits outside the executive departments, at 500 E Street SW in Washington.