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 | $528 |
| $250,000 | $2,638 |
| $1,000,000 | $10,550 |
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. Switch the origin from South Korea (12.5%) to India (11.5%) and an importer reclaims about $1,055 for every $100,000 purchased. 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 sections that follow show where every dollar of the difference comes from.
Here is how US Customs builds the bill for each origin. Shipped out of South Korea, the product is hit with a 1.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and an 11% forced-labor Section 301 duty on its consumer electronics, an effective 12.5% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. India-made goods carry a 1.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% forced-labor Section 301 duty on its consumer electronics, an effective 11.5% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Because the MPF and HMF ($49.74 combined) track customs value rather than origin, they wash out of the comparison entirely. Subtract one stack from the other and $105.50 per $10,000 shipment separates the two origins. That same per-dollar gap is about $264 on a $25,000 order and $1,055 on $100,000 of annual volume. Per $25,000 order, $264 separates the two origins — small per shipment, compounding fast across a program.
Classified in HTS chapter 85, consumer electronics spans products like Smartphones, TVs, Tablets, Laptops, Wireless earbuds, Smart speakers, and Video game consoles. Because consumer electronics moves in volume, even a modest per-unit duty gap aggregates into a number that decides sourcing strategy. On carve-outs: smartphones (most) and laptops previously had temporary S301 exclusions; some still apply but are subject to review. South Korea, in Asia-Pacific, ships the US mainly consumer electronics, passenger vehicles, and steel iron products. South Korea's bilateral deal sets a fixed rate on consumer electronics, a structurally different stack from origins without one. India, in Asia-Pacific, ships the US mainly pharmaceutical ingredients, generic drugs, and clothing garments. For India, a negotiated bilateral rate applies on consumer electronics entries alongside the base and Section 232/301 layers, now that Section 122 has lapsed to 0%. With both origins in Asia-Pacific, freight lanes and transit times are broadly similar, so duty is the cleanest variable to compare. India clears this category at a structurally lower rate than South Korea, 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 India is a viable supplier, expect roughly $1,055 at $100,000, rising to about $2,638 at $250,000 and $10,550 at $1,000,000 as volume grows. The numbers come straight from the landed-cost engine, with product cost and shipping fixed across both origins to isolate the tariff 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 India is smaller than the duty saving, the switch still wins on net landed cost. Before acting, confirm the India 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. Re-run the figures close to your decision: the duty landscape for consumer electronics has shifted repeatedly through the year. Open the Tariff Savings Finder to rank every feasible origin for your specific volume.
At $100,000 of annual import value, switching from South Korea to India saves an estimated $1,055 in duties and fees, because the effective tariff rate falls from 12.5% to 11.5%. 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.
India-origin consumer electronics is assessed a 1.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% forced-labor Section 301 duty, for an effective 11.5% duty rate before the Merchandise Processing Fee ($36.55) and Harbor Maintenance Fee ($13.19).
South Korea carries an effective 12.5% rate versus 11.5% for India. The gap comes from differences in the base, Section 232 and bilateral rates that apply to each origin.
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 .
