Sourcing comparison · Consumer Electronics
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 | $15,298 |
| $250,000 | $76,488 |
| $1,000,000 | $305,950 |
Savings scale linearly with volume. Enter your exact figure to model it precisely.
Calculate your exact volume →Few procurement levers move landed cost on consumer electronics as fast as switching country of origin. Goods from China clear at an effective 39%, while Taiwan clears the same category at 10% — about $30,595 a year at $100,000 of imports. 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. The breakdown below itemises both duty stacks so the figure is auditable, not asserted.
Consider what each country's goods actually face at the border. Sourced from China, the goods face a 1.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty, a 25% Section 301 surcharge, and a 12.5% forced-labor Section 301 duty on its consumer electronics, an effective 39% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. On the Taiwan side, Customs applies a 1.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and an 8.5% forced-labor Section 301 duty on its consumer electronics, an effective 10% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. The decisive layer is Section 301: a 25% surcharge that applies only to China-origin goods and sits on top of every other duty, which is why China routes run expensive across so many categories. 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 $3,059.50 per $10,000 entry, all of it in the duty layers since the processing fees are origin-blind. Across a year that is roughly $7,649 on a $25,000 purchase order and about $30,595 on a $100,000 program. Per $25,000 order, $7,649 separates the two origins — small per shipment, compounding fast across a program.
consumer electronics — Smartphones, TVs, Tablets, Laptops, Wireless earbuds, Smart speakers, and Video game consoles and similar goods — falls under HTS 85. The US imports consumer electronics at scale, so the origin mix for this category is unusually sensitive to tariff policy. On carve-outs: smartphones (most) and laptops previously had temporary S301 exclusions; some still apply but are subject to review. China, in Asia-Pacific, ships the US mainly consumer electronics, computers servers, and clothing garments. China trades without a special US agreement, so column-1 rates and every surcharge apply to its consumer electronics in full. Taiwan, in Asia-Pacific, ships the US mainly semiconductors chips, computers servers, and consumer electronics. Taiwan trades under a bilateral arrangement that sets a fixed rate on consumer electronics alongside the standard duty layers. With both origins in Asia-Pacific, freight lanes and transit times are broadly similar, so duty is the cleanest variable to compare. Taiwan clears this category at a structurally lower rate than China, an edge that persists across order cycles rather than a spot-price blip. US tariff policy in 2026 is unusually fluid, with effective rates on many categories changing several times a year — a reason to treat any origin comparison as a live calculation rather than a fixed sheet.
Where Taiwan is a viable supplier, expect roughly $30,595 at $100,000, rising to about $76,488 at $250,000 and $305,950 at $1,000,000 as volume grows. 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. If any price premium from Taiwan is smaller than the duty saving, the switch still wins on net landed cost. Before acting, confirm the Taiwan supplier classifies under the same HTS heading, can meet your volume and certifications, and faces no product-specific exclusion or quota that shifts the duty. Because rates move, treat this as a point-in-time read and re-check before committing — new proclamations and bilateral deals can shift the stack with little notice. Open the Tariff Savings Finder to rank every feasible origin for your specific volume.
At $100,000 of annual import value, switching from China to Taiwan saves an estimated $30,595 in duties and fees, because the effective tariff rate falls from 39% to 10%. 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.
Taiwan-origin consumer electronics is assessed a 1.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and an 8.5% forced-labor Section 301 duty, for an effective 10% duty rate before the Merchandise Processing Fee ($36.55) and Harbor Maintenance Fee ($13.19).
China carries an effective 39% rate versus 10% for Taiwan. 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 .
