Sourcing comparison · Personal Care Products
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 | $2,638 |
| $250,000 | $13,188 |
| $1,000,000 | $52,750 |
Savings scale linearly with volume. Enter your exact figure to model it precisely.
Calculate your exact volume →When personal care products crosses a US border, where it was made now decides a surprising share of what it costs. France's 15% effective rate undercuts South Korea's 20% by enough to free roughly $5,275 a year at $100,000 of volume. The importers who win this cycle are the ones treating country of origin as a number to optimise, not a given. Each component of the two stacks is detailed below, alongside what it means for a real sourcing decision.
Both stacks share the same customs valuation, so the comparison is apples to apples. On the South Korea side, Customs applies a 5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 15% negotiated bilateral rate on its personal care products, an effective 20% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Shipped out of France, the product is hit with a 5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge on its personal care products, an effective 15% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Part of the spread traces to the Section 122 reciprocal surcharge, a 2026 measure that does not apply uniformly once bilateral deals are accounted for. 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 $527.50 per $10,000 entry, all of it in the duty layers since the processing fees are origin-blind. Across a year that is roughly $1,319 on a $25,000 purchase order and about $5,275 on a $100,000 program. Scaled to a single $25,000 PO, the gap is near $1,319, repeated on every reorder.
The category, HTS 3303, 3304, 3305, 3306, 3307, takes in Skincare, Cosmetics, Haircare, and Perfume among other personal care products. For personal care products, where buyers reorder frequently, the duty rate compounds into one of the largest controllable costs on the P&L. Based in Asia-Pacific, South Korea is best known to US importers for consumer electronics, passenger vehicles, and steel iron products. For South Korea, a negotiated bilateral rate stands in for Section 122, changing the math on personal care products entries. Based in Europe, France is best known to US importers for aircraft parts, wine spirits, and pharmaceuticals. France trades under the EU bilateral framework, which shapes the duties on its personal care products. Different regions — Asia-Pacific versus Europe — mean shipping economics deserve a look beside the tariff math. The recommendation is filtered to feasible suppliers, so France appears because it plausibly makes personal care products, not merely because its rate is low. The figures here reflect the rules in force today; in a year of frequent revisions, the value is in re-running them as policy moves, which this site is built to do.
For $100,000 a year of personal care products, the move from South Korea to France is worth about $5,275, scaling to $2,638 at $50,000, $13,188 at $250,000, and $52,750 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 France costs less than that, the change is accretive. Request parallel quotes from your South Korea incumbent and a vetted France 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 South Korea to France saves an estimated $5,275 in duties and fees, because the effective tariff rate falls from 20% to 15%. 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.
France-origin personal care products is assessed a 5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge, for an effective 15% duty rate before the Merchandise Processing Fee ($36.55) and Harbor Maintenance Fee ($13.19).
South Korea carries an effective 20% rate versus 15% for France. The gap comes from differences in the base, Section 122, Section 232 and bilateral rates that apply to each origin.
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.
