Import Duty from China to the USA: How to Calculate It

Import duty is the tax US Customs charges when your goods enter the country. For an Amazon seller importing from China it is one of the few costs you cannot negotiate: the rate is set by law, and it depends on what the product is, where it was made and what you paid for it.

The good news is that the calculation itself is simple once you know three things: the customs value, the tariff code, and which extra tariffs apply to goods from China.

Step 1: the customs value

Duty is charged as a percentage of the customs value. For most imports this is the price you paid the factory for the goods. International freight and insurance to the US are not part of it, which is one reason a factory quote on FOB terms (goods loaded at the Chinese port) is convenient: it is close to the customs value already.

Declare the real price. Under-declaring to save duty is customs fraud, and an Amazon seller with a paper trail of supplier payments is easy to check.

Step 2: the HTS code and its base rate

Every product imported into the US is classified under a code in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), published by the US International Trade Commission at hts.usitc.gov. The code has ten digits and each one narrows the description: material, function, sometimes size or power.

Each code has a general duty rate, the base duty. It can be 0%, a few percent, or occasionally a fixed amount per unit or per kilogram.

The hard part is choosing the right code, because two codes that both sound right can carry very different rates. Our example below shows exactly that.

Step 3: the extra tariffs on Chinese goods

Goods made in China can carry additional duties on top of the base rate. The best known are the Section 301 tariffs, which the US Trade Representative lists on its Section 301 page. They are added in chapter 99 of the HTS, and a breakdown shows them as two separate lines:

• Section 301 — product-specific China tariff: the tariff lists (and their later increases) that name particular HTS codes. Whether it applies, and at what rate, depends on your product's code.
• Section 301 — forced-labor trade action: a Section 301 trade action on countries whose import-ban policies on forced-labor goods the U.S. considers inadequate. It applies to applicable Chinese-origin goods, subject to exemptions.

Each tariff is counted once, and the two lines add to the total. Products made of steel or aluminium can also carry a Section 232 duty.

These extra tariffs are often larger than the base duty, so they decide most of what you pay. They also change more often than base rates, so check them every time you reorder, not just the first time.

Step 4: the two customs fees

Two small fees are charged on almost every ocean import:

• Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF): a percentage of the customs value, with a minimum and a maximum per entry. It is set in 19 CFR 24.23 and adjusted every fiscal year. From 1 Oct 2026 (fiscal 2027, Federal Register 2026-15530) it is 0.3464%, minimum $34.58, maximum $670.86 per formal entry.
• Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF): 0.125% of the customs value of goods arriving by ship, set in 19 CFR 24.24.

On a small first order the MPF minimum usually applies, so the fee per unit is higher than the percentage suggests.

Worked example: a $27.99 kitchen appliance, 500 units

This is a Cap Engine calculation for one of our test products, an immersion cooker made in China, labelled as an example. Its entry is dated September 2026, so it uses the fiscal 2026 customs fees (a $33.58 MPF minimum), not the fiscal 2027 ones above. The tariff schedule offered two plausible codes for it. Neither has been confirmed by a customs ruling, so Cap Engine prices the cheaper one and shows the other as the risk.

How the per-unit lines are worked out:

• Base customs duty: 2.7% of $5.60 is about $0.15.
• Section 301 — product-specific China tariff: 0% for this code, so nothing.
• Section 301 — forced-labor trade action: 12.5% of $5.60 is $0.70.
• MPF: 500 units at $5.60 is a customs value of $2,800. The percentage would give less than $10, so the fiscal 2026 minimum of $33.58 applies, which is about $0.07 a unit. An entry dated from 1 October 2026 would pay the $34.58 fiscal 2027 minimum instead.
• HMF: 0.125% of $5.60 is less than one cent.

Duty and tariff together come to 15.2% of the customs value, about $0.85 a unit, or roughly $426 on the order. The two fees add about $37 more.

Now look at the third group. If customs decided the product belongs under the other code, the base duty would be 0%, but the product-specific Section 301 tariff would be 7.5% on top of the 12.5% forced-labor trade action. The total would be 20% instead of 15.2%: about $1.12 a unit instead of $0.85, roughly $134 more on 500 units. A code with a lower base rate is not automatically the cheaper one. That is why you want the right code before you order, not after the goods arrive.

Mistakes that make duty cost more than planned

• Using the base rate alone. For goods from China the Section 301 tariffs can be several times the base duty, as in our example.
• Picking the code with the lowest rate. The code must describe the product. Customs can reclassify it and bill the difference, sometimes with penalties.
• Forgetting the MPF minimum. On a small entry the minimum fee is a noticeable cost per unit. It shrinks as the order grows.
• Not rechecking. Tariffs on Chinese goods have changed several times in recent years. Check the rate when you reorder.
• Leaving duty out of the margin. Duty is part of your landed cost, the cost of a unit before Amazon's fees. Our post on the landed cost formula puts all the pieces together.

How to calculate duty for your own product

1. Find the likely HTS code for your product. The free import duty checker suggests codes and shows the rates for a China-made product, and the import duty pages cover common private-label products.
2. Take your factory price per unit as the customs value.
3. Multiply it by the base rate and by each Section 301 rate that applies.
4. Add the MPF (with its minimum per entry) and the HMF for ocean shipments.
5. Before your first order, ask a licensed customs broker to confirm the code.

The short version

US import duty on goods from China is the customs value times the base HTS rate, plus any Section 301 tariffs, plus two small customs fees. In our example a $5.60 product paid 15.2%, about $0.85 a unit, and the second plausible code would have cost 20%. Get the code right first; everything else is arithmetic.