import.tax

Tariffs

U.S. importers paid an effective 6.45% duty in July, down from a 10.84% peak

Importers paid $21.0 billion in duty in July 2026, 24% less than a year earlier, on imports that were 12% larger. Lower rates on goods from China account for most of the fall.

By import.tax Editors5 min read

U.S. importers paid calculated duty equal to 6.45% of the value of their goods in July 2026, the lowest effective rate since March 2025. That is 3.05 percentage points below July 2025 and 4.39 points below the peak of 10.84% reached in October 2025.

The effective rate, calculated duty divided by the customs value of all imports, is the broadest single measure of the duty importers pay. In July they paid $21.0 billion, $6.5 billion (24%) less than a year earlier, while imports rose 12% to $325.6 billion. Over the 12 months to July, calculated duty still came to $287.6 billion, 84% more than in the previous 12 months, and the July rate compares with 2.36% for 2024 as a whole.

The path, month by month

Effective duty rate on all U.S. imports
Calculated duty as a share of customs value, monthly
Show the data
Effective duty rate on all U.S. imports
MonthAll imports
Jul 20266.45%
Jun 20266.81%
May 20266.89%
Apr 20266.74%
Mar 20266.85%
Feb 20268.48%
Jan 20269.87%
Dec 20259.34%
Nov 20259.79%
Oct 202510.84%
Sep 202510.53%
Aug 202510.49%
Jul 20259.51%
Jun 20259.29%
May 20259.06%
Apr 20257.18%
Mar 20253.72%
Feb 20252.33%
Jan 20252.22%
Dec 20242.34%
Nov 20242.35%
Oct 20242.35%
Sep 20242.41%
Aug 20242.51%
Jul 20242.49%
Jun 20242.35%
May 20242.23%
Apr 20242.17%
Mar 20242.21%
Feb 20242.43%
Jan 20242.47%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; excludes antidumping and countervailing duties.

Through 2024 the rate held between 2.17% and 2.51%. It first moved in March 2025, to 3.72%, the month duties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) on goods from Canada and Mexico applied (from March 4; on goods from China, from Feb. 4) and wider Section 232 duties on steel and aluminum took effect (March 12). April reached 7.18%: the 25% Section 232 duty on cars started on April 3, and the 10% IEEPA "reciprocal" duty on most origins on April 5.

The rate reached 9.50% in July 2025 and 10.49% in August, when country-specific reciprocal rates of 10% to 41% applied from Aug. 7, and a 50% Section 232 duty on semi-finished copper from Aug. 1. It peaked at 10.84% in October, then eased to 9.79% in November and 9.34% in December. In that window the fentanyl-related IEEPA duty on Chinese goods was cut "from 20 percent to 10 percent, effective November 10, 2025," and "certain agricultural products" left the reciprocal tariffs from Nov. 13.

The largest step came in 2026. Under Executive Order 14389, the IEEPA duties stopped being collected on goods entered from Feb. 24. The same day, Proclamation 11012 put a 10% surcharge under Section 122 of the Trade Act (heading 9903.03.01) on most imports, but not on goods "entered free of duty as a good of Canada or Mexico" under USMCA, nor on goods subject to Section 232. February, with five days under the surcharge, came in at 8.48%. From March to June, the first full months of the surcharge, the rate held between 6.74% and 6.89%.

The surcharge ran "through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on July 24, 2026," the end of the 150 days Section 122 allows without an Act of Congress. From that minute, Section 301 duties of 10% or 12.5% applied to goods of 60 economies: 12.5% for China (9903.05.31) and Vietnam, 10% for Canada and Mexico, and for some partners, including Japan and the European Union, an all-in rate that replaces a lower regular duty. Goods already in transit were spared if entered before July 28. July's 6.45% therefore mixes 23 days of the surcharge with eight days of the new duties.

Which partners moved

Effective duty rate on U.S. imports, by partner
Calculated duty as a share of customs value, monthly
ChinaMexicoCanadaVietnamAll imports
Show the data
Effective duty rate on U.S. imports, by partner
MonthChinaMexicoCanadaVietnamAll imports
Jul 202621.40%2.91%2.82%6.19%6.45%
Jun 202621.69%3.43%2.85%6.44%6.81%
May 202621.93%3.68%3.07%6.68%6.89%
Apr 202622.46%3.61%3.19%6.52%6.74%
Mar 202623.08%3.38%3.15%7.01%6.85%
Feb 202629.60%3.74%3.20%11.90%8.48%
Jan 202631.81%4.03%3.10%12.27%9.87%
Dec 202530.78%4.29%3.09%12.61%9.34%
Nov 202532.38%4.14%3.63%12.19%9.79%
Oct 202537.82%4.35%3.80%12.40%10.84%
Sep 202537.58%4.43%3.81%13.07%10.53%
Aug 202539.74%4.62%3.76%10.25%10.49%
Jul 202540.04%4.29%2.89%8.71%9.51%
Jun 202540.01%4.53%3.55%8.97%9.29%
May 202547.93%5.02%3.29%6.91%9.06%
Apr 202538.74%4.22%2.98%4.57%7.18%
Mar 202526.43%3.18%1.60%3.37%3.72%
Feb 202513.07%0.27%0.11%3.19%2.33%
Jan 202511.11%0.27%0.11%3.53%2.22%
Dec 202411.16%0.25%0.10%3.70%2.34%
Nov 202410.54%0.23%0.11%3.26%2.35%
Oct 20249.76%0.24%0.12%3.65%2.35%
Sep 20249.93%0.22%0.10%4.03%2.41%
Aug 202411.17%0.25%0.10%3.94%2.51%
Jul 202411.31%0.26%0.11%4.13%2.49%
Jun 202411.38%0.23%0.10%3.93%2.35%
May 202410.99%0.24%0.11%3.45%2.23%
Apr 202411.32%0.25%0.10%3.64%2.17%
Mar 202411.36%0.26%0.11%3.69%2.21%
Feb 202411.47%0.24%0.09%4.13%2.43%
Jan 202411.32%0.26%0.10%4.29%2.47%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

China accounts for most of the fall. In May–July 2026, goods from China paid 21.66%, against 42.49% a year earlier, while China's share of U.S. imports was unchanged at 7.6%. That alone took 1.58 points off the national rate, and $11.0 billion off duty collected: 85% of the $13.0 billion fall. China's monthly rate rose from 11.11% in January 2025 to 47.92% in May 2025; since March 2026 it has stayed between 21.40% and 23.08%.

PartnerImports, May–Jul 2026Rate, May–Jul 2025Rate, May–Jul 2026Change (pts)
All partners$943.2B9.29%6.71%−2.58
China$71.5B42.49%21.66%−20.83
Mexico$168.9B4.62%3.32%−1.30
Canada$106.8B3.23%2.92%−0.31
Vietnam$73.5B8.24%6.42%−1.82
Taiwan$67.1B3.01%2.33%−0.68
Japan$37.3B14.86%10.64%−4.22
South Korea$44.6B11.88%7.90%−3.98

Rates on goods from Mexico and Canada, the two largest suppliers, never passed 5.02% in any month. Vietnam, at 13.07% in September 2025, was back to 6.42%. Japan and South Korea fell by more than 3.9 points each, after 15% all-in Section 232 rates for their cars applied from Sept. 16 and Nov. 1, 2025. Among the 15 largest suppliers, only India (8.52%, up 1.19 points), Ireland and Italy paid a higher rate than a year earlier.

Rates, and what was bought

By chapter, the largest fall in duty was on vehicles (chapter 87): $10.7 billion in May–July 2026, against $15.7 billion, as the rate dropped from 18.94% to 12.59%. Toys (chapter 95) went from 21.30% to 10.31%; a toy from China pays 12.5% today, all of it the new Section 301 duty. Metals went the other way: aluminum (chapter 76) paid 40.66%, up 9.61 points, and copper (chapter 74) 8.55%, against 0.97%, after the copper duty from Aug. 1, 2025 and the Section 232 metals proclamation that applied from April 6, 2026.

Not all of the fall is lower rates. Computers and their parts (HS 8471 and 8473), which paid 0.18% in May–July 2026, rose to $157.6 billion from $82.5 billion, or 16.7% of all imports against 10.0%. Leave them out and the effective rate was 8.03%, not 6.71%. Laptops from China, for example, pay no duty today: they are among the products excluded from the new Section 301 duties (9903.05.86).

Holding each product line and origin (HTS 10-digit line by country) at its May–July 2025 rate, the May–July 2026 mix would have paid 8.45%. Of the 2.58-point fall, about 1.74 points is lower rates on the same goods from the same places; 0.84 points is the shift in what was imported, and from where.

What to watch

More from the Editors

All articles →