Sourcing comparison · Bags & Luggage
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 bags & luggage crosses a US border, where it was made now decides a surprising share of what it costs. The effective rate falls from 42.5% on China shipments to 17.5% on Thailand shipments — close to $26,375 per $100,000 of imports each year. 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. Below, each tariff layer is laid out for both origins, with the saving scaled to several order sizes.
Both stacks share the same customs valuation, so the comparison is apples to apples. From China, the entry is assessed a 7.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty, a 25% Section 301 surcharge, and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge on its bags & luggage, an effective 42.5% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Shipped out of Thailand, the product is hit with a 7.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge on its bags & luggage, an effective 17.5% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. China carries the 25% Section 301 China duty, a punitive layer that compounds on top of the ordinary tariff and has no equivalent on the Thailand side. A Section 122 reciprocal surcharge is also in play — a temporary balance-of-payments measure scheduled to lapse in mid-2026, so its weight on this comparison is time-limited. Because the MPF and HMF ($49.74 combined) track customs value rather than origin, they wash out of the comparison entirely. 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. That same per-dollar gap is about $6,594 on a $25,000 order and $26,375 on $100,000 of annual volume. Per $25,000 order, $6,594 separates the two origins — small per shipment, compounding fast across a program.
bags & luggage — Suitcases, Backpacks, Handbags, and Briefcases and similar goods — falls under HTS 4202. Bags & Luggage is a high-turnover category where landed-cost discipline separates the importers who hold margin from those who don't. From Asia-Pacific, China's top US-bound categories include consumer electronics, computers servers, and clothing garments. Absent a trade deal, China's bags & luggage is assessed standard duties and whatever surcharges apply. From Asia-Pacific, Thailand's top US-bound categories include consumer electronics, auto parts components, and rubber. With no preferential deal in force, Thailand bags & luggage faces the standard rates plus any applicable surcharge. With both origins in Asia-Pacific, freight lanes and transit times are broadly similar, so duty is the cleanest variable to compare. Thailand clears this category at a structurally lower rate than China, an edge that persists across order cycles rather than a spot-price blip. 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 bags & luggage, the move from China to Thailand is worth about $26,375, scaling to $13,188 at $50,000, $65,938 at $250,000, and $263,750 at $1,000,000. Every figure is produced by the same tariff engine behind the site's calculators, holding FOB value, freight and insurance constant so only the duty effect of origin shows through. 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 Thailand costs less than that, the change is accretive. Request parallel quotes from your China incumbent and a vetted Thailand source, then compare landed cost with the duty gap held constant. Lock the comparison to a quote date; a surcharge added or lifted can change the ranking between negotiation and purchase order. Run your own volume — and a post-Section-122 view — through the interactive Tariff Savings Finder. One origin still carries the Section 122 surcharge, due to expire mid-2026; the ranking can shift once it lapses.
At $100,000 of annual import value, switching from China to Thailand saves an estimated $26,375 in duties and fees, because the effective tariff rate falls from 42.5% to 17.5%. 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.
Thailand-origin bags & luggage is assessed a 7.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge, for an effective 17.5% duty rate before the Merchandise Processing Fee ($36.55) and Harbor Maintenance Fee ($13.19).
China carries an effective 42.5% rate versus 17.5% for Thailand. 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.
Possibly. One of these origins currently carries the Section 122 reciprocal surcharge, which is scheduled to expire in mid-2026. The Tariff Savings Finder lets you toggle a post-expiry view to see whether the ranking shifts once that surcharge is removed.
Tariff rates from Tax Foundation, USITC, and Penn Wharton Budget Model. Last verified May 13, 2026.
