Sourcing comparison · Pumps & Compressors
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 →A pumps & compressors importer's margin increasingly turns on a single field on the entry: country of origin. At 17%, Japan sits well above Italy's 12%; on $100,000 of annual buying that difference is around $5,275. The duty line moves with paperwork, not production cost, which is why it rewards attention. The sections that follow show where every dollar of the difference comes from.
Start with the two duty stacks side by side. Shipped out of Japan, the product is hit with a 2% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 15% negotiated bilateral rate on its pumps & compressors, an effective 17% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Italy-made goods carry a 2% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge on its pumps & compressors, an effective 12% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Section 122 adds a reciprocal duty that one origin escapes via a bilateral deal — a meaningful but expiring factor in the current gap. 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 $527.50 per $10,000 shipment separates the two origins. 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 8413, 8414, takes in Centrifugal pumps, Air compressors, Vacuum pumps, and Submersible pumps among other pumps & compressors. For pumps & compressors, where buyers reorder frequently, the duty rate compounds into one of the largest controllable costs on the P&L. Japan's trade profile leans toward passenger vehicles, auto parts components, and industrial machinery, and it sits in Asia-Pacific. Japan's bilateral deal substitutes a set rate for the reciprocal surcharge, a structurally different stack for pumps & compressors. Italy's trade profile leans toward industrial machinery, passenger vehicles, and pharmaceuticals, and it sits in Europe. Italy trades under the EU bilateral framework, which shapes the duties on its pumps & compressors. Spanning Asia-Pacific and Europe, the two lanes differ in freight and transit, so weigh those against the duty saving. The recommendation is filtered to feasible suppliers, so Italy appears because it plausibly makes pumps & compressors, 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.
Where Italy is a viable supplier, expect roughly $5,275 at $100,000, rising to about $13,188 at $250,000 and $52,750 at $1,000,000 as volume grows. 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. If any price premium from Italy is smaller than the duty saving, the switch still wins on net landed cost. Before acting, confirm the Italy 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. The saving is current today; given the pace of 2026 revisions, verify it again at contract signing. 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 Japan to Italy saves an estimated $5,275 in duties and fees, because the effective tariff rate falls from 17% to 12%. 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.
Italy-origin pumps & compressors is assessed a 2% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge, for an effective 12% duty rate before the Merchandise Processing Fee ($36.55) and Harbor Maintenance Fee ($13.19).
Japan carries an effective 17% rate versus 12% for Italy. 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.
