Sourcing comparison · Medical Supplies (PPE, Syringes)
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 | $6,858 |
| $250,000 | $34,288 |
| $1,000,000 | $137,150 |
Savings scale linearly with volume. Enter your exact figure to model it precisely.
Calculate your exact volume →If your medical supplies (ppe, syringes) currently ships from China, the duty bill is worth a second look. The effective rate falls from 23% on China shipments to 10% on Taiwan shipments — close to $13,715 per $100,000 of imports each year. Where a competitor's margin erodes on the same tariff, a buyer who re-sources keeps the difference. Read on for the full stack comparison, the policy reasons behind the gap, and a scaling table for your own volume.
Both stacks share the same customs valuation, so the comparison is apples to apples. China-made goods carry a 3% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty, a 7.5% Section 301 surcharge, and a 12.5% forced-labor Section 301 duty on its medical supplies (ppe, syringes), an effective 23% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. A Taiwan origin attracts a 3% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 7% forced-labor Section 301 duty on its medical supplies (ppe, syringes), an effective 10% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Section 301's 7.5% origin-specific charge is what separates the two origins; strip it out and the stacks would look far closer. Processing and harbor fees apply identically whichever country ships the goods ($49.74 here), confirming the saving is pure duty, not fee. The arithmetic difference between the stacks is $1,371.50 per $10,000 entry, all of it in the duty layers since the processing fees are origin-blind. Scaled up, expect near $3,429 per $25,000 order and around $13,715 once annual buying reaches $100,000. Per $25,000 order, $3,429 separates the two origins — small per shipment, compounding fast across a program.
Within HTS 3926, 6210, 9018.31, 9018.32, medical supplies (ppe, syringes) includes Surgical masks, N95 respirators, Medical gloves, Syringes, IV bags, Surgical gowns, and Isolation gowns. For medical supplies (ppe, syringes), where buyers reorder frequently, the duty rate compounds into one of the largest controllable costs on the P&L. Medical gloves and PPE had Section 122 exemptions that were modified in 2026; Section 122 itself lapsed to 0% sitewide on July 24, 2026, so no PPE pays it today. Section 301 does apply to PPE from China: most lines pay 7.5% or 25%, and medical gloves pay 100% from January 1, 2026. Based in Asia-Pacific, China is best known to US importers for consumer electronics, computers servers, and clothing garments. Absent a trade deal, China's medical supplies (ppe, syringes) is assessed standard duties and whatever surcharges apply. Based in Asia-Pacific, Taiwan is best known to US importers for semiconductors chips, computers servers, and consumer electronics. Taiwan trades under a negotiated bilateral rate that applies alongside the base and Section 232/301 layers, with Section 122 at 0% since its 2026-07-24 lapse — reshaping how its medical supplies (ppe, syringes) stack is built. Because both sit in Asia-Pacific, a switch barely changes the freight picture and mostly changes the duty bill. For a buyer committed to China, Taiwan 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 medical supplies (ppe, syringes), the move from China to Taiwan is worth about $13,715, scaling to $6,858 at $50,000, $34,288 at $250,000, and $137,150 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 Taiwan costs less than that, the change is accretive. Request parallel quotes from your China incumbent and a vetted Taiwan 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.
At $100,000 of annual import value, switching from China to Taiwan saves an estimated $13,715 in duties and fees, because the effective tariff rate falls from 23% 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 medical supplies (ppe, syringes) is assessed a 3% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 7% 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 23% rate versus 10% for Taiwan. The gap is driven mainly by the 7.5% 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 .
