Import Duty

Import duty is the tax a government charges on goods brought into the country — in the US it is the same thing as customs duty, assessed by CBP based on the item's HTS classification, its customs value, and its country of origin. The 2026 US import-duty stack for most countries is the MFN base rate plus a 10% base reciprocal layer (the Section 301 forced-labor tariff that replaced Section 122 on July 24, 2026), with Section 232 metals at 50% and Section 301 China duties of 7.5-100% on top where they apply. Example: $10,000 of Chinese electronics with a 0% MFN rate can still owe several thousand dollars once the reciprocal and Section 301 layers stack. It matters because import duty is usually the largest single cost added at the border, separate from carrier and processing fees.