Sourcing comparison · Precious Metals & Jewelry
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 | $4,220 |
| $250,000 | $21,100 |
| $1,000,000 | $84,400 |
Savings scale linearly with volume. Enter your exact figure to model it precisely.
Calculate your exact volume →For US importers of precious metals & jewelry, country of origin has quietly become the biggest line item you can actually negotiate. India carries roughly 23.5% in duties and fees against 15.5% for Switzerland, a spread worth near $8,440 on $100,000 of annual volume. 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.
The gap is easiest to see by walking each origin's tariffs in turn. India-made goods carry a 5.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 18% negotiated bilateral rate on its precious metals & jewelry, an effective 23.5% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. A Switzerland origin attracts a 5.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge on its precious metals & jewelry, an effective 15.5% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. The reciprocal Section 122 charge is the most volatile element of this comparison, set to expire and therefore worth modelling in both states. The Merchandise Processing Fee and Harbor Maintenance Fee are charged on customs value, not origin, so they sit at $49.74 on either stack and never contribute to the gap. Subtract one stack from the other and $844.00 per $10,000 shipment separates the two origins. Across a year that is roughly $2,110 on a $25,000 purchase order and about $8,440 on a $100,000 program. At order level, $25,000 of goods carries roughly $2,110 more duty from India than from Switzerland.
The category, HTS 71, takes in Gold bars/coins, Silver jewelry, Diamond rings, and Platinum bars among other precious metals & jewelry. For precious metals & jewelry, where buyers reorder frequently, the duty rate compounds into one of the largest controllable costs on the P&L. A Asia-Pacific supplier, India concentrates its US exports in pharmaceutical ingredients, generic drugs, and clothing garments. India's bilateral deal substitutes a set rate for the reciprocal surcharge, a structurally different stack for precious metals & jewelry. A Europe supplier, Switzerland concentrates its US exports in pharmaceuticals, industrial machinery, and chemicals industrial compounds. With no preferential deal in force, Switzerland precious metals & jewelry faces the standard rates plus any applicable surcharge. Moving between Asia-Pacific and Europe changes more than duty, so treat the tariff saving as one input among several. Switzerland is surfaced as a credible alternative, not just the cheapest line — it is among the origins a US buyer of precious metals & jewelry could realistically qualify. Sourcing diversification has shifted from resilience theatre to margin necessity, and a documented second source like Switzerland is how buyers act on it.
The headline is $8,440 at $100,000; because the rate gap is fixed, larger programs scale cleanly — $4,220, $21,100, and $84,400 at $50,000, $250,000, and $1,000,000. These are engine-computed stacks, not estimates: identical inputs on both sides except country of origin, so the gap is purely a duty result. 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. Subtract any per-unit premium Switzerland charges from the duty saving to get the true net benefit before deciding. A quick checklist for the Switzerland option: match the HTS classification, get a quote that itemises duty apart from freight, and check for any antidumping or countervailing order on your item. The saving is current today; given the pace of 2026 revisions, verify it again at contract signing. Model your exact volume and compare further origins in 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 India to Switzerland saves an estimated $8,440 in duties and fees, because the effective tariff rate falls from 23.5% to 15.5%. 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.
Switzerland-origin precious metals & jewelry is assessed a 5.5% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge, for an effective 15.5% duty rate before the Merchandise Processing Fee ($36.55) and Harbor Maintenance Fee ($13.19).
India carries an effective 23.5% rate versus 15.5% for Switzerland. 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.
