Sourcing comparison · Aluminum Products
Tariff & fee savings only, assuming equal product cost — your actual landed cost also depends on price and freight, which vary by supplier.
| Annual import value | Estimated duty & fee savings / year |
|---|---|
| $50,000 | $13,188 |
| $250,000 | $65,938 |
| $1,000,000 | $263,750 |
Savings scale linearly with volume. Enter your exact figure to model it precisely.
Calculate your exact volume →The cheapest factory for aluminum products is no longer always the cheapest landed cost — tariffs have reshuffled the math. China carries roughly 79% in duties and fees against 54% for Canada, a spread worth near $26,375 on $100,000 of annual volume. Unlike freight or FX, the duty rate is set by which country's stamp the goods carry — a choice made at the contract, not at the port. Each component of the two stacks is detailed below, alongside what it means for a real sourcing decision.
The gap is easiest to see by walking each origin's tariffs in turn. From China, the entry is assessed a 4% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty, a 50% Section 232 measure, and a 25% Section 301 surcharge on its aluminum products, an effective 79% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Shipped out of Canada, the product is hit with a 4% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 50% Section 232 measure on its aluminum products, an effective 54% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Section 301 does the damage here — 25% levied specifically on China shipments, stacked above the base and special-tariff layers rather than replacing them. The 50% Section 232 layer attaches to the goods rather than the country, so it appears on both origins and largely cancels out of the difference. Processing and harbor fees apply identically whichever country ships the goods ($49.74 here), confirming the saving is pure duty, not fee. That leaves a $2,637.50 gap on every $10,000 of goods, driven entirely by the 25% spread in effective duty rate. A $25,000 order therefore differs by about $6,594, and a $100,000 year by roughly $26,375. At order level, $25,000 of goods carries roughly $6,594 more duty from China than from Canada.
Within HTS 76, aluminum products includes Aluminum sheet, Aluminum extrusions, Aluminum cans/foil, Aluminum ingots, Aluminum castings, and Aluminum wire. Aluminum Products is a high-turnover category where landed-cost discipline separates the importers who hold margin from those who don't. Unwrought aluminum ingots, billets, and slabs; wrought aluminum sheet, plate, foil, tubes, pipes, structural shapes, and castings. Covers primary and secondary aluminum across all tempers and alloys. From Asia-Pacific, China's top US-bound categories include consumer electronics, computers servers, and clothing garments. With no preferential deal in force, China aluminum products faces the standard rates plus any applicable surcharge. A North America supplier, Canada concentrates its US exports in crude oil petroleum, passenger vehicles, and lumber wood products. Through USMCA, qualifying Canada aluminum products enters duty-free (USMCA 0%, except Section 338 annex goods), collapsing the special-tariff layer to nothing. Moving between Asia-Pacific and North America changes more than duty, so treat the tariff saving as one input among several. For a buyer committed to China, Canada is a concrete diversification target whose tariff math is settled and whose remaining diligence is commercial. With the US running its highest average tariff in decades, concentrated exposure to one high-duty origin is now a measurable annual cost rather than an abstract risk.
The headline is $26,375 at $100,000; because the rate gap is fixed, larger programs scale cleanly — $13,188, $65,938, and $263,750 at $50,000, $250,000, and $1,000,000. All values are calculated, not assumed — the engine applies the current published rates to identical goods and reports the difference. These figures reflect tariff and fee savings only, assuming equal product cost — your actual landed cost also depends on price and freight, which vary by supplier. Subtract any per-unit premium Canada charges from the duty saving to get the true net benefit before deciding. A quick checklist for the Canada option: match the HTS classification, get a quote that itemises duty apart from freight, and check for any antidumping or countervailing order on your item. Re-run the figures close to your decision: the duty landscape for aluminum products has shifted repeatedly through the year. Model your exact volume and compare further origins in the interactive Tariff Savings Finder.
At $100,000 of annual import value, switching from China to Canada saves an estimated $26,375 in duties and fees, because the effective tariff rate falls from 79% to 54%. The saving scales linearly with volume. These figures reflect tariff and fee savings only, assuming equal product cost — your actual landed cost also depends on price and freight, which vary by supplier.
Canada-origin aluminum products is assessed a 4% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 50% Section 232 measure, for an effective 54% duty rate before the Merchandise Processing Fee ($36.55) and Harbor Maintenance Fee ($13.19).
China carries an effective 79% rate versus 54% for Canada. The gap is driven mainly by the 25% Section 301 surcharge that applies to Chinese-origin goods and stacks on top of every other layer.
Tariff rates from Tax Foundation, USITC, and Penn Wharton Budget Model; retaliatory and industry data from the ITA Foreign Retaliations Database and U.S. Census Bureau (NAICS). Last verified .
