Sourcing comparison · Paints & Coatings
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 →A paints & coatings importer's margin increasingly turns on a single field on the entry: country of origin. At 39.5%, China sits well above Canada's 14.5%; on $100,000 of annual buying that difference is around $26,375. Origin is one of the few cost levers a US importer controls outright, and it has rarely mattered more. What follows is the layer-by-layer comparison, the trade context behind each rate, and how the gap grows with volume.
Here is how US Customs builds the bill for each origin. A China origin attracts a 4.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty, a 25% Section 301 surcharge, and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge on its paints & coatings, an effective 39.5% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Canada-made goods carry a 4.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty, a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge, and a 10% negotiated bilateral rate on its paints & coatings, an effective 14.5% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. The 25% Section 301 surcharge is the structural reason China loses this comparison: it is additive, China-specific, and shows no sign of lapsing. The reciprocal Section 122 charge is the most volatile element of this comparison, set to expire and therefore worth modelling in both states. The $49.74 in processing and harbor fees is the same on both sides, leaving the duty layers as the only mover of the gap. That leaves a $2,637.50 gap on every $10,000 of goods, driven entirely by the 25% spread in effective duty rate. Across a year that is roughly $6,594 on a $25,000 purchase order and about $26,375 on a $100,000 program. A buyer placing $25,000 orders sees about $6,594 of avoidable duty on each one.
The category, HTS 3208, 3209, 3210, 3214, takes in Architectural paint, Industrial coatings, Varnishes, and Lacquers among other paints & coatings. Because paints & coatings moves in volume, even a modest per-unit duty gap aggregates into a number that decides sourcing strategy. 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 paints & coatings in full. Canada, in North America, ships the US mainly crude oil petroleum, passenger vehicles, and lumber wood products. Canada's USMCA membership can zero out duties on qualifying paints & coatings, which is why it so often undercuts non-agreement origins. Moving between Asia-Pacific and North America changes more than duty, so treat the tariff saving as one input among several. A switch to Canada still hinges on capacity, certification and lead time, but the duty advantage is the part that is already quantified. 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 Canada is a viable supplier, expect roughly $26,375 at $100,000, rising to about $65,938 at $250,000 and $263,750 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 Canada is smaller than the duty saving, the switch still wins on net landed cost. Before acting, confirm the Canada 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 paints & coatings has shifted repeatedly through the year. Open the Tariff Savings Finder to rank every feasible origin for your specific volume. 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 Canada saves an estimated $26,375 in duties and fees, because the effective tariff rate falls from 39.5% to 14.5%. 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.
Canada-origin paints & coatings is assessed a 4.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty, a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge, and a 10% negotiated bilateral rate, for an effective 14.5% duty rate before the Merchandise Processing Fee ($36.55) and Harbor Maintenance Fee ($13.19).
China carries an effective 39.5% rate versus 14.5% 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.
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.
