The Ultimate Guide to US Customs, Tariffs, and Duties for Amazon FBA Sellers of Imported Goods
Everything Amazon FBA importers need to know about US customs duties, tariff stacking, Section 301, Section 122, and the true cost of importing from China and beyond.
Last updated: February 22, 2026. Reflects the Supreme Court IEEPA ruling (Feb 20, 2026) and the Section 122 replacement tariff now in effect.
Everything you need to know about the true cost of importing, before the first container ever ships.
If you sell imported products on Amazon FBA, you already know the product cost and the Amazon fees. But between your supplier's factory and your customer's doorstep, there is an entire layer of costs that most sellers either underestimate or ignore completely: US customs duties, tariff surcharges, and the complex rules that determine how much you actually owe when a shipment clears the border.
This guide covers all of it. Every acronym is explained. The focus is on imports from China, where the tariff situation is most complex, but the foundational concepts apply to any import origin.
Reading time: approximately 10 minutes.
Part 1: The Basics of US Customs
When goods cross into the United States from another country, they pass through CBP: US Customs and Border Protection. CBP is the federal agency responsible for inspecting shipments, collecting duties, and enforcing trade laws. Think of CBP as the gatekeeper at every port of entry.
As an importer, you (or your customs broker acting on your behalf) must file an entry with CBP for every commercial shipment. This document declares what you're importing, where it came from, and what it's worth. Based on that declaration, CBP determines how much you owe in duties.
The amount you owe depends on three things: what the product is, where it was made, and how much you paid for it. The first question is answered by something called the HS code.
The HS Code: Your Product's Customs Fingerprint
The HS code (Harmonized System code) is a standardized international product classification system maintained by the WCO (World Customs Organization), a Geneva-based intergovernmental body. Almost every country in the world uses the same first six digits. The US then extends this to 10 digits for its own HTS: the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. The HTS is the official list of every product category and its corresponding duty rate.
Your HS code determines your base duty rate. Getting it wrong, even by one digit, can swing your effective tariff rate by 10 to 40 percentage points. For example, a product classified as a "measuring instrument" might face 0% duty, while the same product classified as a "household appliance" might face 3.7% before you even layer in any China-specific tariffs.
You can look up HS codes at hts.usitc.gov. USITC stands for United States International Trade Commission, the independent federal agency that publishes and maintains the official HTS.
Customs Value: What the Duties Are Calculated On
Duties are not calculated on your Amazon selling price. They are calculated on your customs value, which in most cases means the FOB (Free On Board) value of the goods. FOB is a shipping term meaning the price at the point of loading at the origin port. It includes the cost of the goods and any domestic trucking to get them to port, but not ocean freight or insurance.
So if you paid $5.00 per unit FOB China, and you're importing 1,000 units, your customs value is $5,000. Duties are applied as a percentage of that $5,000, not on the freight-inclusive value and definitely not on your Amazon selling price.
There is a slightly more precise measure called CIF (Cost, Insurance, Freight), used by some countries, where customs value includes freight and insurance. The US primarily uses FOB. The distinction matters when you are doing precise calculations, because a $5.00 FOB unit might cost $5.60 landed (after freight and insurance), and basing duties on the wrong figure produces a meaningfully different number at scale.
Part 2: MFN Duties: The Baseline Every Import Faces
Before we get to the additional surcharges, every import faces the base duty rate. This is called the MFN rate, which stands for Most Favored Nation. Despite the name, it does not mean special treatment. It is the standard rate that applies to imports from all WTO (World Trade Organization) member countries equally.
The name comes from a WTO principle: if you grant preferential market access to one country, you must extend the same terms to all members. So the "most favored" rate is the baseline everyone gets. Currently about 164 countries trade with the US at MFN rates.
MFN rates are set by Congress and published in the HTS. They vary enormously by product:
- Raw materials and commodities: often 0%
- Most consumer goods: 2 to 8%
- Politically protected industries such as textiles, footwear, and ceramics: sometimes 15 to 25% or higher
MFN rates are stable. They rarely change outside of major trade agreements or WCO reclassification cycles, which happen roughly every five years.
If you source from Vietnam, India, or most other countries, the MFN rate used to be essentially the only duty layer you paid on most goods. That changed in February 2026 with Section 122, covered below.
Part 3: The Tariff Stack
Starting in 2018, the US began adding multiple layers of additional tariffs on top of MFN rates. The landscape shifted again dramatically in February 2026 when the Supreme Court struck down IEEPA tariffs and a new global surcharge replaced them. Here is every layer explained in its current state.
Layer 1: Section 301 Tariffs
Section 301 refers to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The Trade Act of 1974 is a broad piece of US legislation governing trade policy and international trade negotiations. Section 301 is the specific provision within that law giving the President authority to take retaliatory trade action against countries engaged in "unfair trade practices." It is not China-specific by design: it can be used against any country. It is associated with China today simply because the China investigation was by far the largest and most consequential Section 301 action ever taken.
In 2018, the USTR (United States Trade Representative), the cabinet-level office that sets and manages US trade policy, launched a Section 301 investigation into China's practices around IP (intellectual property) theft and forced technology transfer. The investigation concluded that China was systematically requiring US companies to hand over proprietary technology as a condition of doing business there.
The response was a series of additional tariffs rolled out across four product lists between 2018 and 2019:
List 1: Approximately $34 billion in annual imports, 25% tariff. Primarily industrial machinery, electronics components, and aerospace parts.
List 2: Approximately $16 billion in goods, 25% tariff. Similar industrial and technology categories.
List 3: Approximately $200 billion in goods, 25% tariff (started at 10%, raised to 25% in 2019). A broad range of intermediate and consumer goods.
List 4A: Approximately $120 billion in goods, 7.5% tariff. Consumer electronics, clothing, footwear, and many products that Amazon FBA sellers commonly source from China.
There is also a List 4B that was announced but never implemented.
If you source almost anything from China and sell it on Amazon, you are almost certainly hit by one of these lists. The majority of common Amazon FBA product categories are covered.
One important nuance: exclusions. The USTR can grant temporary product-specific exclusions that waive the Section 301 tariff for a particular HS code. There are currently around 178 active exclusions extended through November 10, 2026. If your exact product has an active exclusion, you do not pay the Section 301 rate for the duration of that exclusion. But exclusions expire and must be renewed, so they cannot be counted on as a permanent cost structure. Check ustr.gov for your specific HS code.
Section 301 was unaffected by the February 2026 Supreme Court ruling and remains fully active.
Layer 2: Section 122 Global Tariff
On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court struck down all IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) tariffs in a 6-3 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump. Chief Justice Roberts held that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs, writing that the statute "cannot bear such weight." Hours after the ruling, Trump signed a replacement executive order under a different legal authority: Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.
Section 122 is a provision designed for balance-of-payments emergencies, meaning situations where a country's import spending is dangerously outpacing its export earnings. It had never been used in its 52-year existence before this executive order. The statute comes with hard constraints:
- Rate cap: 15% maximum. Trump initially signed at 10%, then raised to 15% (the statutory ceiling) the following day.
- Duration: 150 days maximum without congressional approval, expiring approximately July 24, 2026.
- Scope: must apply broadly and uniformly across all countries. No country-specific rates.
That last point is the biggest practical change for Amazon FBA sellers. Section 122 is a global tariff. It applies to imports from every country, including Vietnam, India, Mexico, and anywhere else you might source to avoid China-specific tariffs. At 15%, every import from every country now carries this surcharge on top of MFN and any other applicable duties.
Some product categories are exempt, including certain agricultural products, critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, some electronics, and passenger vehicles. The full exemption list is in the executive order.
The legal foundation of Section 122 is already being questioned by economists who argue the statute requires a genuine balance-of-payments deficit, which the US does not have under floating exchange rates. No lawsuits have been filed yet as of publication, but legal challenges are expected.
A note on IEEPA refunds: The Supreme Court remanded the refund question to the Court of International Trade. Importers who paid IEEPA duties between February 2025 and February 2026 may eventually be eligible for refunds, but the process and timeline are not yet established. Keep your import records.
Practical guidance: budget for 15% Section 122 on all imports regardless of origin, and plan for potential expiration around July 2026 unless Congress acts to extend it.
Layer 3: Section 232 Tariffs
Section 232 refers to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, a law giving the President authority to restrict imports that threaten US national security. Unlike Sections 301 and 122, Section 232 is product-based rather than country-based. It applies to specific materials regardless of where they were manufactured.
Currently, Section 232 covers: steel (50%), aluminum (50%), automobiles (25%), auto parts (25%), and copper (50%). These rates apply regardless of country of origin, with very limited exceptions.
The practical question for most Amazon sellers is whether Section 232 applies to their product at all. The answer depends on how CBP classifies the goods. A stainless steel kitchen knife is classified as a cutlery item, not as steel, so Section 232 generally does not apply. Raw steel bar stock is obviously covered. The grey area is products that contain significant steel or aluminum as a primary structural component. When in doubt, your customs broker can advise.
Section 232 was unaffected by the February 2026 Supreme Court ruling and remains fully active.
Layer 4: AD/CVD Orders
AD/CVD stands for Antidumping and Countervailing Duties. These are two related but distinct mechanisms applied on a case-by-case basis.
Antidumping (AD) duties apply when a foreign company sells goods in the US below its cost of production or below what it charges in its home market. This practice is called "dumping." US manufacturers can petition the government to investigate, and if the practice is confirmed, AD duties are imposed to eliminate the price advantage.
Countervailing duties (CVD) apply when a foreign government subsidizes its domestic producers in a way that gives them an artificial price advantage in the US market.
AD/CVD orders are product-specific and country-specific. They result from individual investigations rather than blanket policy. Rates can be very high, sometimes 100 to 300% or more, because they are designed to neutralize a specific, documented price distortion.
Examples of products with active AD/CVD orders on Chinese goods include wooden bedroom furniture, solar panels, certain steel products, mattresses, and many others. The ITA (International Trade Administration), a division of the US Department of Commerce, maintains a searchable database of all active orders at trade.gov/enforcement. Every importer should check this database for their specific product categories before committing to a sourcing decision.
A Note on Other Tariff Tools
The sections above cover the layers most Amazon FBA sellers encounter. Two additional tools are worth knowing to complete the picture.
Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 is called the "safeguard" or "escape clause" provision. Unlike Section 301, it does not require proving that a foreign country is doing anything wrong. If a surge of imports is causing serious injury to a US domestic industry on price alone, that is enough to trigger action. The USITC investigates and if it finds serious injury, the President can impose temporary tariffs or quotas, typically for up to four years, across all countries simultaneously. Trump used Section 201 in 2018 for solar panels and washing machines. Because Section 201 is recognized under WTO rules, affected countries have the legal right to retaliate, which limits how aggressively it gets deployed.
The practical difference from Section 301: Section 301 targets a specific country for a specific unfair practice. Section 201 targets a product category across all countries when US industry is being hurt by a volume surge, regardless of whether anyone is doing anything wrong. Section 232 targets specific materials on national security grounds. Section 122 is a time-limited global surcharge tied to a balance-of-payments emergency declaration.
Part 4: How the Layers Stack (And How the Math Works)
This is where most sellers, and most competing calculators, get it wrong.
The MFN, Section 301, Section 122, and Section 232 tariffs all apply to your customs value (FOB price). They do not stack on top of each other compoundly. They stack additively from the same base number. This is a critical distinction.
Here is a worked example using a common consumer product: a bamboo kitchen utensil set sourced from China, with a FOB value of $3.00 per unit.
Applicable rates as of February 24, 2026:
- MFN duty: 3.4%
- Section 301 (List 4A): 7.5%
- Section 122 (global surcharge): 15%
Correct calculation (additive): $3.00 x (3.4% + 7.5% + 15%) = $3.00 x 25.9% = $0.78 per unit in combined duties
Incorrect calculation (compound stacking): $3.00 x 1.034 x 1.075 x 1.15 = $3.84 per unit total, or $0.84 in duties
The difference is $0.06 per unit. At 10,000 units per shipment, that is $600 in calculation error per import, compounding across a product portfolio.
Now compare the same product sourced from Vietnam. Before February 24, 2026, Vietnam-origin goods paid only the MFN rate. Now Section 122 applies to all countries:
- MFN duty: 3.4%
- Section 301: does not apply (Vietnam-origin goods)
- Section 122: 15% (applies to all countries)
$3.00 x (3.4% + 15%) = $3.00 x 18.4% = $0.55 per unit in combined duties
The gap between China and Vietnam has narrowed compared to the pre-February 2026 environment, when IEEPA created a large additional wedge on Chinese goods. Section 122's global application means sourcing outside China no longer provides the same tariff escape it once did, though the Section 301 stack still makes China-origin goods significantly more expensive in most categories.
Part 5: The Role of the Customs Broker
You are legally allowed to file your own customs entries (called "self-filing"), but almost no Amazon FBA seller does. Instead, they use a licensed customs broker.
A customs broker is a private company or individual licensed by CBP to file customs entries on behalf of importers. They handle entry filing, HS code determination, duty payment, and communication with CBP if questions arise about a shipment. Their fee is typically $100 to $200 per shipment for a standard ocean import, which works out to approximately $0.10 to $0.50 per unit depending on order quantity.
Your freight forwarder (the company that books ocean freight, arranges factory pickup, and coordinates delivery to Amazon's warehouse) is often the same company as, or a close partner of, your customs broker. Companies like Flexport, Freightos, and hundreds of smaller specialists handle both functions. Their value is not just the paperwork: a good broker catches HS code misclassifications that could cost you significantly more in duties than the brokerage fee itself.
Part 6: De Minimis: The Loophole That Closed for China
One exemption worth understanding: the de minimis threshold. Under Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930, shipments valued under $800 can enter the US duty-free without a formal customs entry. This is called the de minimis exemption.
The exemption was originally designed for individual consumers buying single items from foreign websites: someone ordering one jacket from an overseas retailer, for example. At that scale, the cost of processing a formal customs entry would exceed the duties collected.
What actually happened was that companies like Shein and Temu engineered their entire logistics models around this exemption. Rather than importing inventory in bulk to US warehouses, they shipped individual consumer orders directly from Chinese factories, each addressed to an individual customer, each valued under $800. No formal customs entry, no duties, on millions of parcels per day.
As of May 2025, the de minimis exemption was eliminated for Chinese and Hong Kong-origin goods by executive order. Goods from China no longer qualify.
What this means for standard Amazon FBA importers: very little directly. When you import a container or pallet of inventory to send to Amazon's fulfillment centers, that is filed as a single commercial entry valued at the total shipment value, which is almost always well above $800. De minimis never applied to this model regardless. CBP also has anti-splitting provisions that prevent importers from artificially fragmenting a single commercial order into sub-$800 parcels to game the threshold.
The change matters most for the direct-to-consumer shipping model that Shein and Temu relied on. The broader significance for FBA sellers is what it signals about policy direction: the political appetite for closing trade loopholes that benefit Chinese exporters remains high across administrations.
Part 7: The Hidden Cost That Destroys Your Margin
Here is what the tariff complexity means in practical terms for your Amazon business.
Most sellers calculate margin like this:
Selling price ($25.00) minus product cost ($6.25) minus Amazon referral fee ($3.75) = $15.00 profit (60% margin)
That looks good. But it is dangerously incomplete. Here is the same product with all costs included, sourced from China in early 2026:
| Cost component | Per unit |
|---|---|
| FOB cost | $6.25 |
| Ocean freight (allocated) | $1.10 |
| MFN duty (3.4% of FOB) | $0.21 |
| Section 301 tariff (7.5% of FOB) | $0.47 |
| Section 122 surcharge (15% of FOB) | $0.94 |
| Customs brokerage (allocated) | $0.25 |
| Amazon referral fee (15%) | $3.75 |
| FBA fulfillment fee | $4.75 |
| FBA storage (monthly average) | $0.35 |
| True total cost | $18.07 |
| True margin | $6.93 (27.7%) |
That 60% margin was actually 27.7%. The duty stack alone consumed $1.62 per unit, 6.5% of the selling price, that most margin calculators never capture. And this is after the SCOTUS ruling reduced the China-specific burden: before February 20, 2026, when IEEPA was stacked on top, the same product faced $1.93 in combined duties per unit.
Now model the same product sourced from Vietnam at a slightly higher FOB cost of $7.50, a common tradeoff when moving production away from China:
| Cost component | Per unit |
|---|---|
| FOB cost | $7.50 |
| Ocean freight (allocated) | $1.20 |
| MFN duty (3.4% of FOB) | $0.26 |
| Section 301 | $0.00 |
| Section 122 surcharge (15% of FOB) | $1.13 |
| Customs brokerage (allocated) | $0.25 |
| Amazon referral fee (15%) | $3.75 |
| FBA fulfillment fee | $4.75 |
| FBA storage (monthly average) | $0.35 |
| True total cost | $19.19 |
| True margin | $5.81 (23.2%) |
In this example, sourcing from Vietnam actually produces a worse margin than China under the current Section 122 regime: 23.2% versus 27.7%. The reason is that Section 122 applies globally, so Vietnam no longer escapes the surcharge, while still carrying a higher FOB cost and freight rate. The Section 301 savings from Vietnam (no 7.5% List 4A tariff) are not enough to offset the higher product and shipping costs when Section 122 levels the tariff playing field.
This is a significant change from the pre-February 2026 environment, where Vietnam's exemption from China-specific tariffs made it the clear winner for many product categories. If Section 122 expires in July 2026 without congressional extension and is not replaced, Vietnam regains its tariff advantage immediately. The 150-day countdown clock makes long-term sourcing decisions genuinely difficult right now.
The point is not that China is always better. The point is that you cannot know which sourcing country is better without calculating the complete cost waterfall for both scenarios at current tariff rates. And those rates have moved multiple times in a single year. Section 301 exclusions expire. New AD/CVD investigations get initiated against categories that were clean the quarter before. Section 122 may be struck down, extended, or replaced.
The sellers who thrive in this environment are not the ones who got lucky with a low-tariff product. They are the ones who know their full cost structure, model alternative sourcing scenarios before committing, and get notified when tariff changes hit their specific product categories before their competitors do.
Quick Reference Glossary
AD/CVD: Antidumping and Countervailing Duties. Case-by-case tariffs on specific products found to be sold below cost (dumping) or unfairly subsidized by foreign governments.
CBP: US Customs and Border Protection. The federal agency that processes all imports at US ports of entry.
CIF: Cost, Insurance, Freight. A valuation method that includes ocean freight and insurance in the customs value base. Used by some countries; the US primarily uses FOB.
De minimis: A Latin term meaning "about minimal things." In trade law, the threshold below which shipments enter duty-free. The $800 US threshold was eliminated for Chinese-origin goods in May 2025.
FOB: Free On Board. The price of goods at the origin port, used as the customs value basis in the US. Does not include ocean freight or insurance.
HS code: Harmonized System code. The international product classification number that determines your duty rate. Six digits internationally, 10 digits in the US HTS.
HTS: Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The US's 10-digit product classification system and duty rate table, published by USITC.
IEEPA: International Emergency Economic Powers Act (1977). The law used to impose emergency tariffs on China and other countries starting in 2025. Struck down by the Supreme Court on February 20, 2026, in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump (6-3 ruling). IEEPA tariffs are no longer in effect. Refunds for previously collected duties are pending in the Court of International Trade with no timeline established.
IP: Intellectual Property. Patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights.
ITA: International Trade Administration. A division of the US Department of Commerce that administers and enforces AD/CVD orders.
MFN: Most Favored Nation. The standard baseline tariff rate that applies equally to imports from all WTO member countries.
Section 122: Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. A temporary global import surcharge signed February 20, 2026, as the replacement for struck-down IEEPA tariffs. Currently at 15% (the statutory maximum) on imports from all countries. Expires after 150 days (~July 24, 2026) unless Congress extends it. Never used before this executive order. Legal basis disputed by economists who argue the statute requires a genuine balance-of-payments deficit.
Section 201: Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974. The "safeguard" or "escape clause" provision allowing the President to impose temporary tariffs on imports from all countries if they are causing serious injury to a US domestic industry, regardless of whether any unfair trade practice is involved. Distinct from Section 301 in that no wrongdoing by the exporting country is required.
Section 232: Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. National security tariffs on specific materials (steel, aluminum, automobiles, auto parts, copper), applied regardless of country of origin.
Section 301: Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The provision used to impose retaliatory tariffs on China in response to IP theft and forced technology transfer, organized into Lists 1 through 4A. Unaffected by the February 2026 Supreme Court ruling.
USITC: United States International Trade Commission. The independent federal agency that publishes and maintains the HTS.
USTR: United States Trade Representative. The cabinet-level office that manages US trade policy, including Section 301 investigations and exclusion processes.
WCO: World Customs Organization. The Geneva-based intergovernmental body that maintains the international HS classification system.
WTO: World Trade Organization. The international body governing global trade rules, including the MFN principle.
Disclaimer: This guide is for educational purposes. Tariff rates, legal rulings, and product classifications can change with little notice. Verify current rates against official government sources (cbp.gov, ustr.gov, hts.usitc.gov) before making sourcing decisions. Consult a licensed customs broker for guidance specific to your products and situation.