Sourcing comparison · Textiles & Fabrics
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 →For US importers of textiles & fabrics, country of origin has quietly become the biggest line item you can actually negotiate. Pakistan's 18% effective rate undercuts Taiwan's 23% by enough to free roughly $5,275 a year at $100,000 of volume. Where a competitor's margin erodes on the same tariff, a buyer who re-sources keeps the difference. Below, each tariff layer is laid out for both origins, with the saving scaled to several order sizes.
The duty layers tell the whole story of the gap. From Taiwan, the entry is assessed a 8% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 15% negotiated bilateral rate on its textiles & fabrics, an effective 23% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Sourced from Pakistan, the goods face a 8% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge on its textiles & fabrics, an effective 18% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. A Section 122 reciprocal surcharge is also in play — a temporary balance-of-payments measure scheduled to lapse in mid-2026, so its weight on this comparison is time-limited. Processing and harbor fees apply identically whichever country ships the goods ($49.74 here), confirming the saving is pure duty, not fee. Net the two and the duty-and-fee difference is $527.50 on a single $10,000 shipment — the 5% effective-rate gap in dollars. A $25,000 order therefore differs by about $1,319, and a $100,000 year by roughly $5,275. On a $25,000 purchase order that is about $1,319 of duty difference — the kind of figure that shows up directly in a quarter's gross margin.
Classified in HTS chapter 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, textiles & fabrics spans products like Cotton fabric, Polyester fabric, Wool cloth, and Silk fabric. Because textiles & fabrics moves in volume, even a modest per-unit duty gap aggregates into a number that decides sourcing strategy. From Asia-Pacific, Taiwan's top US-bound categories include semiconductors chips, computers servers, and consumer electronics. For Taiwan, a negotiated bilateral rate stands in for Section 122, changing the math on textiles & fabrics entries. From Asia-Pacific, Pakistan's top US-bound categories include clothing garments, textiles fabrics, and footwear. With no preferential deal in force, Pakistan textiles & fabrics faces the standard rates plus any applicable surcharge. With both origins in Asia-Pacific, freight lanes and transit times are broadly similar, so duty is the cleanest variable to compare. For a buyer committed to Taiwan, Pakistan is a concrete diversification target whose tariff math is settled and whose remaining diligence is commercial. Because surcharges have stacked rates well above their statutory base, country of origin has become a first-order cost driver for textiles & fabrics rather than a footnote.
The headline is $5,275 at $100,000; because the rate gap is fixed, larger programs scale cleanly — $2,638, $13,188, and $52,750 at $50,000, $250,000, and $1,000,000. All values are calculated, not assumed — the engine applies the current published rates to identical goods and reports the 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. Subtract any per-unit premium Pakistan charges from the duty saving to get the true net benefit before deciding. A quick checklist for the Pakistan 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. Because rates move, treat this as a point-in-time read and re-check before committing — especially around the mid-2026 Section 122 expiry. 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 Taiwan to Pakistan saves an estimated $5,275 in duties and fees, because the effective tariff rate falls from 23% to 18%. 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.
Pakistan-origin textiles & fabrics is assessed a 8% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% Section 122 reciprocal surcharge, for an effective 18% duty rate before the Merchandise Processing Fee ($36.55) and Harbor Maintenance Fee ($13.19).
Taiwan carries an effective 23% rate versus 18% for Pakistan. 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.
