What you actually pay in duty on a China-made good: a worked $10,000 example

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The short answer

US duty on a China-made good is not one rate. It is up to four layers added together, plus two fees:

• the normal duty (the general or MFN rate for your HTS code, often 0% to 6.5%),
• the 2018 Section 301 tariff if your code is on List 1, 2, 3 (25%) or List 4A (7.5%),
• the 12.5% Section 301 forced-labor duty on products of China, in force since 12:01 a.m. ET on July 24, 2026,
• in some categories, Section 232 duties; for the Section 232 goods covered by exemption heading 9903.05.90 (such as steel, aluminum and copper articles), they take the place of the 12.5% layer,
• and two fees: the merchandise processing fee (MPF) and, for ocean freight, the harbor maintenance fee (HMF).

The HTS lists each Section 301 layer as "the duty provided in the applicable subheading" plus a percentage (9903.88.03 for List 3, 9903.88.15 for List 4A, 9903.05.31 for the 12.5% duty), and CBP's guidance calls the 12.5% an "additional" duty. So the layers add up on the same customs value. The IEEPA "fentanyl" and "reciprocal" tariffs are gone (the Supreme Court struck them down on February 20, 2026, in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump) and the 10% Section 122 tariff expired on July 24, 2026 (both logged with sources on our China tariffs tracker), so neither is in these numbers.

The layers, with today's rates

Duty is charged on the customs value, which for most imports is the price paid for the goods. International freight and insurance are generally left out when they are shown separately, which is why we use the FOB price below.

The worked example: a $10,000 FOB order by sea

Illustrative: a $10,000 FOB order (say 2,000 units at $5.00) of a China-made product whose normal duty is 3.4%, shipped by ocean and cleared on a formal entry. We run it three ways, depending on which 2018 Section 301 list the HTS code is on.

Two things the table shows. First, the 2018 list your code sits on is the single biggest swing: $1,750 between List 3 and List 4A on the same order. Second, the new 12.5% layer now costs more than the normal duty whenever that duty is under 12.5%: on this order it is $1,250 against $340.

The MPF has a floor and a ceiling. At 0.3464%, any formal entry under about $9,983 pays the $34.58 minimum, and only entries above about $193,666 hit the $670.86 maximum. On a $10,000 order the fee is $34.64, so for small importers the MPF is close to a flat $35 per formal entry.

A smaller shipment: $2,000 by air

Illustrative: the same List 3 product, a $2,000 order flown in on an informal entry (under $2,500). Since CBP suspended the de minimis exemption (for non-postal shipments from June 24, 2026, and for mail through the new postal entry process), low-value shipments no longer enter duty-free.

• Duty: 3.4% + 25% + 12.5% = 40.9%, or $818.00
• MPF: $2.77 (automated informal entry)
• HMF: none (air freight)
• Total: $820.77, or 41.0% of the order

The percentage barely moves, because the duties are a share of value and the fees are small. Splitting an order into smaller shipments no longer saves duty.

What changes after November 9

178 Section 301 product exclusions expire at 11:59 p.m. ET on November 9, 2026 (the notice's dates section; its body text says "until November 10"), and as of October 15 USTR has not published an extension in the Federal Register. If your product has one of those exclusions and its code is on List 3, the example order goes from $1,637.14 to $4,137.14 at the border, an extra $2,500, or $1.25 a unit. If you rely on an exclusion, the goods that matter are the ones that will be entered after November 9, not the ones you ordered before it. Our US-China tariff deadlines page tracks the date.

The September 27, 2026 US list of 77 tariff lines (tracked on our China tariffs tracker) that could get lower rates does not change these numbers yet: no rates or start date have been published.

What these numbers leave out

• Freight, insurance and your broker's fee. Ask your forwarder for an all-in quote; our landed cost calculator adds them to the duty.
• The customs bond a formal entry needs (a single-entry or continuous bond, priced by the surety).
• Antidumping or countervailing duties, which apply to specific products (for example boltless steel shelving from China, whose orders were continued on October 14, 2026) and can be far higher than everything above.
• Section 232 goods. Goods covered by exemption heading 9903.05.90 (steel, aluminum and copper articles and derivatives, vehicles and parts, wood products, semiconductors) pay Section 232 duties instead of the 12.5% layer; work those out line by line with your broker.
• Canada. This page covers US imports. Canadian importers pay Canada's own customs tariff and taxes, not these US layers; our China tariffs tracker lists the Canadian side with CBSA sources.

How to check your own product in five minutes

1. Find your 10-digit HTS code (our HS code guide shows how) and note its general rate on hts.usitc.gov.
2. Check whether the code is on a 2018 Section 301 list (9903.88.01 to 9903.88.03 at 25%, 9903.88.15 at 7.5%) and whether it has an exclusion that ends November 9.
3. Check whether your product falls under one of the 12.5% exemptions (9903.05.85 to 9903.05.92, described in U.S. note 52 to chapter 99). If not, add 12.5%.
4. Add the three rates and enter the total in the landed cost calculator (prefilled here with the 40.9% from our example).
5. Before you place a large order, confirm the code and rates with a licensed customs broker.

General information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Rules change often: check the official sources above or a licensed customs broker before you act. SuanSupply is not affiliated with any government agency or marketplace named here.