US importers pay tariffs. Not China, not the EU, not Vietnam. The importer of record — almost always a US entity — cuts the check to Customs and Border Protection within 10 business days of entry. Who ultimately bears the cost is a separate question, and the answer is more interesting than the political rhetoric suggests. CBP collected roughly $112 billion in duties in FY2025, and the bill gets split three ways: importer margin, foreign supplier discounts, and consumer prices.
The Legal Answer: US Importers Pay CBP
The importer of record is legally liable for duties. In 95%+ of cases that's a US entity — a retailer, manufacturer, or broker acting for a US buyer. Payment goes to US Customs and Border Protection at the port of entry, secured by either a single-entry bond or a continuous bond. CBP collected about $112 billion in customs duties in fiscal year 2025, up from roughly $80 billion in 2022. Every dollar of that came from a US importer. The claim that 'foreign countries pay tariffs' is political shorthand — mechanically, foreign exporters never touch the money. They ship goods, get paid FOB, and the US buyer handles duty at the border.
Who Actually Bears the Cost: Three Scenarios
Scenario A — the importer absorbs. Thin-margin retailers with long supplier contracts eat some or all of the tariff to hold shelf prices. Scenario B — the foreign supplier discounts. Large US buyers with alternatives (Vietnam, Mexico, India) force Chinese suppliers to cut FOB prices 3-8% in exchange for keeping the order. Scenario C — the consumer pays. In competitive retail, the tariff passes through to shelf prices. San Francisco Fed research on the 2018-2019 Section 301 tariffs on China found roughly 60-70% of the duty showed up in higher US consumer prices within six months. The remaining 30-40% was split between importer margin compression and supplier FOB cuts.
Worked Example: $10,000 Electronics Shipment from China
Start with a $10,000 FOB shipment of consumer electronics from Shenzhen. Section 122 at 10% adds $1,000. Section 301 at 25% adds $2,500. Merchandise Processing Fee at 0.3464% adds $34.64. Harbor Maintenance Fee at 0.125% adds $12.50. Total duty: $3,547.14 — written by the US importer to CBP, not by the Chinese factory. If the importer sells the goods at a 2x markup ($25,000 revenue), that $3,547 is a 14.2% hit on sales. A big-box retailer with pricing power passes most of it through; a small specialty seller absorbs more of it. The Chinese factory sees none of this — they got paid $10,000 when the container left the port.
When the Exporter Effectively Pays Part of the Bill
Big importers with sourcing alternatives extract supplier discounts. Walmart-scale buyers routinely negotiate 3-8% FOB price cuts when tariffs hit, threatening to shift volume to Vietnam or Mexico. On a $10,000 shipment, a 5% FOB discount is $500 the supplier effectively eats — combined with partial consumer pass-through and partial margin compression, a 35% stacked tariff gets split three ways. Small importers don't get that deal. They lack bargaining power, can't credibly threaten to source elsewhere, and end up eating the full cost or passing 100% to their customers. That's why tariff burden falls heaviest on small and mid-market importers.
Why the 'China Pays' Myth Persists
The political framing 'China pays our tariffs' confuses three different things. First, Chinese firms remit nothing to CBP — that's simple fact. Second, the yuan weakened against the dollar in 2018-2019, which made Chinese exports cheaper in dollar terms and offset some of the tariff cost for US buyers. That's a currency move, not a tariff payment. Third, US import volumes from China fell — China's share of US goods imports dropped from 21% in 2017 to about 13% by 2025. Chinese exporters lost real revenue, but losing sales isn't the same as paying a tariff. The economic cost to China is real; the mechanism is demand destruction, not duty collection.
Who Pays When Duties Stack
Stacked duties just make the importer's check larger. Take Chinese steel: 10% Section 122 + 50% Section 232 + 25% Section 301 = 85% on a $50,000 coil = $42,500 to CBP, paid by the US steel buyer. That cost flows into US construction, auto manufacturing, and machinery prices. Every major steel-consuming industry lobbies against Section 232 because they feel the hit on their P&L — not because Chinese mills are suffering. Auto tariffs work the same way: the 25% Section 232 auto duty on a $40,000 imported vehicle is $10,000, paid by the US dealer or importer and marked up at retail. Dealers typically pass through 80-90% of the duty within three months.
Refund Claims for IEEPA Duties Already Paid
The Supreme Court struck down IEEPA reciprocal tariffs on February 20, 2026. Importers who paid the 10-46% IEEPA rates between April 2025 and February 2026 may have refund claims. Over $100 billion in IEEPA duties was collected in that window. The Trump administration has said it won't voluntarily refund and expects 12-24 months of litigation. If you paid: preserve entry summaries (CBP Form 7501) and duty payment records, file protests within 180 days of liquidation through a customs broker, and don't expect fast payment. Section 232 and Section 301 duties are not refundable — those authorities weren't struck down.
What This Means for Your Pricing
If you're the importer, build the full stacked duty into your landed cost before quoting. Treat tariffs as a real cost of goods, not a pass-through line item. If you're buying from a US importer, expect explicit tariff surcharges on invoices — many distributors add a 'duty recovery' line that they strip out when rates fall. And build duty sensitivity into contracts longer than six months — the Section 122 expiration date (July 24, 2026) and pending Section 301 investigations make 2026 rates unusually volatile. Run your numbers through the landed cost calculator before committing to large orders.
Key Takeaway
Mechanically, it's simple: US importers pay tariffs to CBP. Whether the cost sticks with the importer, gets shared with the foreign supplier through FOB discounting, or passes to the consumer depends on pricing power and competition. Expect roughly 60-70% consumer pass-through within six months of a rate change, with the balance absorbed by importer margin and supplier discounts. But the legal check always goes from a US importer to the US Treasury — no foreign country writes that check.
Calculate Your Import Duty
Get an instant estimate for your specific product, country, and shipment value.
Open Tariff Calculator