Sourcing comparison · Auto Parts & Components
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 →When auto parts & components crosses a US border, where it was made now decides a surprising share of what it costs. China carries roughly 53% in duties and fees against 28% for Canada, a spread worth near $26,375 on $100,000 of annual volume. Where a competitor's margin erodes on the same tariff, a buyer who re-sources keeps the difference. Each component of the two stacks is detailed below, alongside what it means for a real sourcing decision.
The duty layers tell the whole story of the gap. From China, the entry is assessed a 3% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty, a 25% Section 232 measure, and a 25% Section 301 surcharge on its auto parts & components, an effective 53% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Sourced from Canada, the goods face a 3% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 25% Section 232 measure on its auto parts & components, an effective 28% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. China carries a 25% country-specific Section 301 duty, a punitive layer that compounds on top of the ordinary tariff and has no equivalent on the Canada side. Both origins absorb the 25% Section 232 duty on this category, which is why the saving comes from the layers that do differ. Two charges are origin-blind — the MPF and HMF, together $49.74 on this entry — which is why the entire difference lives in the duty layers. The arithmetic difference between the stacks is $2,637.50 per $10,000 entry, all of it in the duty layers since the processing fees are origin-blind. Across a year that is roughly $6,594 on a $25,000 purchase order and about $26,375 on a $100,000 program. On a $25,000 purchase order that is about $6,594 of duty difference — the kind of figure that shows up directly in a quarter's gross margin.
auto parts & components — Engine blocks, Transmissions, Brake assemblies, Suspension parts, Body panels, Wiring harnesses, and Catalytic converters and similar goods — falls under HTS 8706, 8707, 8708, 8709. The US imports auto parts & components at scale, so the origin mix for this category is unusually sensitive to tariff policy. Concretely, what counts as auto parts & components: engine parts, transmissions, brakes, suspension components, body panels, electrical systems, and all other components used in vehicle assembly and repair. A Asia-Pacific supplier, China concentrates its US exports in consumer electronics, computers servers, and clothing garments. Absent a trade deal, China's auto parts & components is assessed standard duties and whatever surcharges apply. From North America, Canada's top US-bound categories include crude oil petroleum, passenger vehicles, and lumber wood products. Under USMCA, Canada-origin auto parts & components that meets the rules of origin can clear duty-free entirely (USMCA 0%, except Section 338 annex goods) — a decisive edge where qualification holds. Spanning Asia-Pacific and North America, the two lanes differ in freight and transit, so weigh those against the duty saving. 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.
For $100,000 a year of auto parts & components, the move from China to Canada is worth about $26,375, scaling to $13,188 at $50,000, $65,938 at $250,000, and $263,750 at $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. Treat the annual saving as the ceiling on switching cost: as long as moving to Canada costs less than that, the change is accretive. Request parallel quotes from your China incumbent and a vetted Canada source, then compare landed cost with the duty gap held constant. The saving is current today; given the pace of 2026 revisions, verify it again at contract signing. Run your own volume — and a post-Section-122 view — through 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 53% to 28%. 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 auto parts & components is assessed a 3% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 25% Section 232 measure, for an effective 28% duty rate before the Merchandise Processing Fee ($36.55) and Harbor Maintenance Fee ($13.19).
China carries an effective 53% rate versus 28% 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 .
