Heading 7605 covers aluminum wire as a semi-finished metal product — essentially wire in coil form not yet insulated or stranded into a finished cable. Once the wire is insulated, stranded into ACSR or AAAC conductor, or otherwise processed into a finished electrical product, it typically moves to Chapter 76 wire/cable headings or Chapter 85 electrical conductor headings. The distinction matters because finished cable may carry different duty rates and different Section 232 treatment.

The 7 mm threshold is the HTS boundary between two separate 6-digit subheadings (760511 vs. 760519 for non-alloy wire). It reflects a practical industry distinction: wire above 7 mm is typically rod-form feedstock for further drawing, while finer gauges are closer to finished wire. Misclassifying the gauge can result in the wrong duty rate and potential Section 232 exposure differences, so the actual measured cross-section from the mill certificate should be documented at entry.