U.S. imports rose 15% in May–July, with most of the gain from Asia and Mexico

The United States imported $943.2 billion of goods in May–July 2026, 15% more than in the same three months of 2025. July alone brought in $325.6 billion, up 12% on July 2025 and the highest monthly total since March 2025.

The $121.5 billion increase came mostly from two places: suppliers in East and Southeast Asia, which added $82.2 billion, and Mexico, which added $32.8 billion. It was also narrow in what it covered. Four headings of electronics (computers, computer parts, network and telephone equipment, and solid-state storage) accounted for $106.2 billion of it, and those goods paid an effective duty rate of 0.24%. Every partner that added more than $7 billion paid less duty per dollar than a year earlier, but for several of them the lower rate is a matter of that mix, not of lower tariffs.

The declines were concentrated in a few lines. Most of Ireland's drop was one pharmaceutical line, and Switzerland's was gold, a product whose value follows bullion prices and routing. Venezuela, a small supplier a year ago, shipped $4.4 billion, most of it crude oil.

July in context

July was the second-highest month in data back to 2010, behind the $340.7 billion of March 2025, and May–July was the second-highest three-month total, behind January–March 2025.

The gain is not a matter of a weak base: imports in May–July 2025, $821.8 billion, were close to the $822.8 billion of May–July 2024. Over longer spans the change is small. Imports in January–July 2026 were 0.1% above the same months of 2025, a period that includes the March 2025 peak, and the 12 months to July were 1.7% below the 12 months before.

Who added

Mexico added the most, and July was its highest month in data back to 2010, at $60.4 billion. July was also a monthly high for Vietnam ($25.9 billion), Taiwan ($24.6 billion) and South Korea ($16.5 billion). Over the three months Vietnam supplied more than China, $73.5 billion against $71.5 billion, and it has done so in every month since March 2026, which had not happened before in data back to 2010.

Canada's $15.0 billion increase was mostly crude oil, and it was price rather than volume. Crude from Canada added $6.9 billion, but the number of barrels fell 4.3%, to 336.6 million, while the value per barrel rose to $81.90 from $58.83.

China's gain is measured from a low base. Imports from China were $62.4 billion in May–July 2025 and $71.5 billion this year, against $107.2 billion in the same months of 2024.

Computers and their parts (HS 8471 and 8473) alone added $75.1 billion, 62% of the increase, and paid 0.13% and 0.30%; Mexico's computer shipments rose $27.8 billion. Most of the rest of the electronics gain was network and telephone equipment (HS 8517, up $16.6 billion) and solid-state storage devices (HTS 8523.51), which rose to $18.5 billion from $4.0 billion.

What the goods paid

The effective duty rate is calculated duty divided by customs value. Across all imports it was 6.71% in May–July 2026, against 9.29% a year earlier, and it fell for each partner in the table. Two different things moved.

For China, South Korea, Mexico, Taiwan and Canada, rates on the goods themselves came down. Excluding the four electronics headings, China's goods paid 23.80%, against 43.92%, and South Korea's cars paid 14.97%, against 24.89%.

For Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, the lower overall rate is mix. The four electronics headings rose to 58% of Vietnam's shipments from 43%, and on everything else Vietnam's goods paid 15.18%, up from 14.21%. Thailand's other goods paid 14.28%, against 11.50%, and Malaysia's 8.19%, against 7.30%.

The comparison also spans a change in the legal basis of the duties. The IEEPA duties collected in May–July 2025 stopped being collected on Feb. 24, 2026, and a temporary 10% surcharge under Section 122 applied from that date until it expired on July 24.

Where imports fell, and Venezuela

One line, HTS 2937.19.00 (polypeptide hormones), accounts for $6.3 billion of Ireland's $7.2 billion decline. It brought in $6.5 billion in May–July 2025, $6.0 billion of that in May alone, and $199 million this year. Everything else from Ireland fell $0.9 billion.

Gold accounts for more than all of Switzerland's decline: gold imports fell $5.4 billion, and $5.8 billion of gold arrived in July 2025 alone. The drop was in quantity, not price. Unwrought gold from Switzerland weighed 0.8 tonnes in May–July 2026, against 54.1 tonnes a year earlier, while its value per gram rose to $138 from $109. Gold paid 0.01% or less in both periods, so tariffs were not what changed. Without gold, Swiss imports rose to $12.7 billion from $11.8 billion, and paid 4.73%, against 4.81%: the higher Swiss rate in the table is gold leaving the mix.

From the Netherlands, pharmaceutical products (chapter 30) fell $1.65 billion and fuels $693 million. The Dutch rate rose on other goods too, to 6.92% from 5.86%.

Pharmaceutical lines account for most of the Irish decline and about half of the Dutch one. The data here end as the Section 232 duties on pharmaceuticals began: heading 9903.04.60 took effect on July 31. In the other direction, medicaments (HS 3004) from China rose $1.2 billion and paid 0.02%, against 18.25% a year earlier.

Venezuela's base was too small for a percentage to mean much. Crude oil accounted for $3.1 billion of its $4.4 billion, against $227 million a year earlier: 37.9 million barrels, against 3.9 million. It was the largest three-month total from Venezuela since November 2014–January 2015, and its $7.3 billion in January–July 2026 is more than in any full year from 2019 to 2025. The data do not show why the flow grew. Crude from Venezuela pays the general rate of 5.25 cents a barrel today, with no additional duty.

What to watch

The rates above are what goods paid in May–July. Since July 24, Section 301 duties on products of 60 economies apply at 10% or 12.5%, with exemptions in the notice's annexes. Several lines behind this summer's moves are carved out by heading 9903.05.86: the import.tax tariff lookup shows no Section 301 duty today on solid-state storage from Vietnam, network equipment from Thailand or gold bullion from Switzerland.

The Census Bureau publishes August 2026 trade data on Oct. 6, the first full month under the Section 301 duties and without the Section 122 surcharge. September data follow on Nov. 4.