Trade Agreements Act (TAA): designated countries checklist

A product can pass the Trade Agreements Act and still fail Buy American. Buy American counts where a product's components came from. TAA asks only where the finished product was last transformed. A buyer or SQE who treats the two rules as one is the one who finds out at award or at receiving that a GSA Schedule item or a bid doesn't qualify.

What is the Trade Agreements Act?

The Trade Agreements Act of 1979 lets the President waive Buy American and other domestic-preference rules for products from countries with a reciprocal trade agreement, or from least-developed countries. On a covered federal contract, the contractor may deliver only U.S.-made or designated country end products, unless its offer listed other end products on the Trade Agreements Certificate.

FAR 52.225-5 names no dollar figure. It states only that the contracting officer has determined the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) or a free trade agreement applies to this acquisition. 19 U.S.C. 2511. FAR 52.225-5.

Where does the Trade Agreements Act apply on a federal contract?

FAR 52.225-5 bars delivery of anything but a U.S.-made or designated country end product on a supply or service contract of $174,000 or more that's covered by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. Below that figure, a supply buy falls back to Buy American instead, unless the solicitation is a small business set-aside, which TAA doesn't reach at any dollar value.

USTR set the $174,000 figure for calendar years 2026 and 2027, and the FAR adopted it effective March 13, 2026. Federal Register 2025-24130, 91 FR 188. FAR 25.402(b). Free trade agreements set their own thresholds inside that ceiling: $105,767 for Australia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Singapore and the CAFTA-DR countries, $100,000 under Korea's agreement, $50,000 under the Israeli Trade Act, and $174,000, the same as the WTO GPA figure, for Bahrain, Morocco, Oman, Panama and Peru. Below $174,000, though, those FTA thresholds only put an FTA-country product on equal footing with a domestic one under Buy American; the ban on other end products still doesn't start until the buy reaches $174,000. FAR 25.403(c)(1).

The FAR Overhaul reaches Part 25 through agency class deviations, and GSA's version leaves the numbers in this lesson unchanged: 52.225-5 stays as written, and the model text keeps 25.003, 25.401 and 25.402 at the same section numbers. GSA Class Deviation RFO-2025-25.

Does this end product qualify under TAA

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Decision flow with four steps. Step 1 asks whether FAR 52.225-5 or DFARS 252.225-7021 applies to this contract at all, based on the dollar threshold, any FAR 25.401 exception, and for DoD, whether the end product is in a covered product service group; a no means the Trade Agreements Act doesn't apply and Buy American or another rule governs instead. Step 2 asks whether the end product is a U.S.-made end product; a yes qualifies it, a no moves to step 3. Step 3 asks whether it's a designated country end product, or for DoD a qualifying country end product; a yes qualifies it, a no moves to step 4. Step 4 is the result reached only after two no answers: the end product isn't eligible, and the contracting officer may buy it only if no offers of eligible products arrive, or those offers are insufficient.

1. 1

   Does FAR 52.225-5 or DFARS 252.225-7021 apply to this contract? ($174,000 or more, no FAR 25.401 exception, and for DoD, an end product in a covered product service group)

   If yes

   Go to step 2

   If no

   Trade Agreements Act doesn't apply; Buy American or another rule governs

2. 2

   Is it a U.S.-made end product?

   If yes

   Qualifies as a U.S.-made end product

   If no

   Go to step 3

3. 3

   Is it a designated country end product (or, for DoD, a qualifying country end product)?

   If yes

   Qualifies

   If no

   Go to step 4

4. 4

   Result

   If yes

   Already qualified at step 2 or 3

   If no

   Not eligible; the contracting officer may buy it only if no offers of eligible products arrive, or those offers are insufficient (FAR 25.403(c)(1))

What counts as a designated country?

A designated country is a WTO GPA country, a free trade agreement country, a least developed country, or a Caribbean Basin country. An end product qualifies if it was wholly made in one of these countries, or last substantially transformed there. China, India and Vietnam sit on none of the four lists, so their end products don't qualify. FAR 25.003.

The WTO GPA list runs to more than 40 countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Taiwan and every EU member state. The free trade agreement list adds Mexico, Peru, Costa Rica, Chile and Colombia. Least developed countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Haiti, Nepal and Yemen; Caribbean Basin countries include Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize and Barbados. FAR 25.003. GSA's own lookup table marks each country designated or not, with a "No" against China, India and Vietnam. GSA, TAA-designated country lookup.

Designated country groups under the Trade Agreements Act

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Table listing the four designated country groups under FAR 25.003 (WTO GPA country, FTA country, least developed country, Caribbean Basin country) with example countries in each group and the FAR source, plus a fifth row of example countries that are not designated under any group, including China, India and Vietnam.

Group	Examples	Source
WTO GPA country	Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Taiwan, and every EU member state	FAR 25.003
FTA country	Australia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Singapore, Bahrain, Morocco, Oman	FAR 25.003
Least developed country	Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Haiti, Nepal, Yemen, and about 40 more	FAR 25.003
Caribbean Basin country	Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Barbados, Bahamas	FAR 25.003
Not designated (examples)	China, India, Vietnam, Russia, Brazil	GSA TAA-designated country lookup

How does substantial transformation decide TAA country of origin?

TAA sets country of origin by substantial transformation. The country of origin is the last country where work turned a product into a new and different article of commerce, with a name, character or use distinct from what went into it. 19 U.S.C. 2518(4)(B). A "U.S.-made end product" meets that same test for the United States. FAR 25.003.

That test carries no check on where a product's components came from, unlike Buy American. Buy American asks a different question: whether the cost of components mined, produced or manufactured in the United States clears a set share of the cost of all components, currently 65 percent through calendar year 2028 and 75 percent from 2029, with a separate 5 percent limit on foreign iron and steel for products made mostly of it. FAR 25.003.

A product finished in the United States can meet TAA's substantial transformation test and still fail Buy American's component-cost test if too many of its parts were sourced abroad. Track country of origin separately for each rule, since one certification doesn't answer both questions.

How do you get a CBP ruling on where a product was substantially transformed?

Substantial transformation is a judgment call, and Customs and Border Protection will make that call in writing on request. A final determination under 19 CFR Part 177, Subpart B settles where a specific product was last substantially transformed for government procurement purposes. 19 CFR 177.21.

A foreign manufacturer, producer or exporter, a U.S. importer of the item, a domestic manufacturer or wholesaler of a like product, a U.S. member of a labor organization, or a trade association whose members mostly make, produce or wholesale a like product in the United States may request one. 19 CFR 177.23. CBP publishes the determination in the Federal Register within 60 days, 19 CFR 177.29. and any other interested party can ask CBP to reexamine it and issue a new one. 19 CFR 177.31. A supplier that already holds one can hand you the published determination instead of a bare assertion.

Why does a GSA Schedule contract trigger TAA at any order size?

A Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract is an indefinite-delivery contract, so its estimated value over the full ordering period, not any single order, is what's tested against the WTO GPA threshold. GSAR 525.1170(a)(2). Once TAA applies to the contract, GSA's own rule carries it to every order placed under it, regardless of that order's size. GSAR 525.1170(b)(2).

GSA's aggregation rule adds up the value of all expected orders, the expected total contract value, to decide whether the WTO GPA threshold is met in the first place. GSAR 525.1170(a)(2). GSA confirms the result on the MAS program itself. Schedule offerings are subject to TAA, and contractors certify the country of origin for each product, shown on GSA Advantage. GSA, TAA compliance on MAS.

Does the Department of Defense apply the Trade Agreements Act differently?

DoD uses its own clause, DFARS 252.225-7021, which accepts a qualifying country end product alongside U.S.-made and designated country products. That covers an end product mined or produced in a qualifying country, one manufactured there where qualifying-country and U.S. components exceed 65 percent of cost for deliveries in 2024 through 2028, or a COTS item manufactured there. DFARS 252.225-7021.

That cost share rises to 75 percent for deliveries starting in calendar year 2029, matching the Buy American schedule. DFARS 252.225-7021. Trade agreements cover DoD contracts only for end products in the product service groups listed at DFARS 225.401-70; an end product outside those groups doesn't get a trade agreements review at all. DFARS 225.401-70. Qualifying countries include Australia, Canada and other NATO and allied states with a defense procurement memorandum of understanding in force; check the current DFARS list for a specific country. DFARS 225.003.

Materials with their own restriction, such as those covered by the Berry Amendment or DFARS specialty metals, still need to clear that rule separately; qualifying under TAA doesn't clear either one.

What happens when a supplier misrepresents country of origin?

Knowingly selling a non-compliant product as TAA-compliant on a federal contract, including with reckless disregard of the facts, can bring False Claims Act liability. 31 U.S.C. 3729. A supplier's wrong answer doesn't make your own certification safe, so check your contract and counsel before you sign one.

The Department of Justice settled allegations with OMNI Business Systems in 2023 that it offered HP toner as TAA-compliant through its GSA MAS contract and an Air Force Blanket Purchase Agreement after being told to remove the items, in a case a competitor filed as a qui tam suit. DOJ, USAO-EDVA, June 2023. A competitor filed the case, and GSA Advantage shows each product's certified country of origin publicly.

What evidence should you request from suppliers?

Ask for the country where the product was last substantially transformed, not just a general country of origin statement, since the two questions can have different answers. Ask where each step happened when a product crosses borders during manufacture, and ask for a CBP final determination if the supplier already has one for that item.

Put the question on the purchase order and keep the supplier's answer with the PO or lot it covers. A tracker keeps every answer in one place instead of scattered emails; these are the columns worth keeping:

Your team can open each request as a task and hand it to Scout Agent, who follows up with the supplier by email and phone.

Questions teams ask

Does a distributor's invoice count as proof of country of origin?

A distributor's invoice doesn't prove origin on its own. It shows where a distributor bought a product, not where it was mined, produced, manufactured or last substantially transformed. Ask the manufacturer directly, or ask the distributor to pass the question upstream.

Can an end product qualify under TAA and still be barred by another rule?

Yes. TAA, Buy American, the Berry Amendment and rules like the DFARS restriction on certain magnets, tantalum and tungsten each test something different, and an item has to clear every rule that applies to that contract, not just one.

Does TAA apply below the simplified acquisition threshold?

Yes, it can. The WTO GPA threshold is $174,000, well below the $350,000 simplified acquisition threshold. FAR 25.401(a)(1) excepts buys set aside for small business, though, and small-business set-asides are common in that range, so check whether the solicitation carries 52.225-5. FAR 25.401. FAR 2.101.

If your team is certifying country of origin across a bid or a Schedule listing, talk to our team about how Cartograph collects country-of-origin answers from every supplier on the list.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Check how the rules apply to your business with your legal or tax advisor.

Sources (18)

1. FAR 52.225-5, Trade Agreements
2. FAR 25.003, Definitions
3. FAR 25.401, Exceptions
4. FAR 25.402, General
5. FAR 25.403, Applicability
6. FAR 2.101, Definitions (simplified acquisition threshold)
7. Federal Register 2025-24130, Procurement Thresholds for Implementation of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (91 FR 188)
8. 19 U.S.C. Chapter 13, Trade Agreements Act of 1979
9. 19 CFR Part 177, Subpart B (sections 177.21-177.31)
10. GSAR 525.1170, Applying foreign acquisition prescriptions to GSA-created contracts
11. GSA, Trade Agreements Act compliance and supply chain security on MAS
12. GSA, Look up Trade Agreements Act-designated countries
13. DFARS 252.225-7021, Trade Agreements
14. DFARS 225.401-70, End products subject to trade agreements
15. DFARS 225.003, Definitions
16. 31 U.S.C. 3729, False Claims Act
17. DOJ, USAO-EDVA, Government Contractor Settles False Claims Act Allegations Based on Violations of the Trade Agreements Act
18. GSA Class Deviation RFO-2025-25, Part 25 model deviation text