How to import from China into the United States

Step 1 · Decide who the importer of record is

The importer of record (IOR) is the party legally responsible to CBP for the entry: for classifying the goods correctly, declaring an accurate value, paying duty, and keeping the records. It is not a formality. If the declaration is wrong, CBP looks at the IOR, not at your supplier and not at your broker.

For a US company, the IOR is normally you, identified by your EIN from the IRS. Before your first entry you file CBP Form 5106 to create your importer record. A foreign company can be the IOR but needs a resident agent for service of process, and most first-time importers are better served being their own IOR rather than borrowing someone else's number.

Step 2 · Classify the product

Every imported article gets a 10-digit classification from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). That code determines the base duty rate, whether Section 301 applies and at what rate, whether Section 232 metals duties apply, whether a partner agency has to sign off, and whether an antidumping order covers you. Almost every expensive import mistake begins as a classification mistake.

Practical sequence:

1. Get the real technical description from the factory — materials by weight or value, function, how it is assembled, whether it is a set.
2. Work through the HTSUS chapter notes and General Rules of Interpretation, not a keyword search.
3. Search CROSS, CBP's database of past rulings, for the same or similar articles.
4. If the classification is genuinely arguable or the duty difference is material, request a binding ruling through CBP's eRulings portal. It is free and typically issued in about 30 days, and it protects you.

Never accept the code on your supplier's proforma invoice without checking it. Chinese exporters classify for Chinese export purposes; the numbers frequently do not match the US schedule, and the error is yours to pay for.

Step 3 · Check whether the goods can come in at all

Duty is a cost. Admissibility is a wall. Work through these before you pay a deposit.

Partner government agencies

Roughly a third of import lines have a second agency behind CBP. The common ones:

Forced labor — the risk most importers underestimate

Under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, goods mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or by any company on the UFLPA Entity List, are presumed to be made with forced labor and are barred from entry. As of 3 August 2026 the list holds 187 companies.

Three things importers get wrong about this:

• It follows the input, not the shipment. A Vietnamese or Mexican factory that buys cotton, aluminium or polysilicon from a listed Chinese supplier is inside the presumption. Moving final assembly out of China does not move you out of UFLPA.
• The rebuttal standard is brutal. "Clear and convincing evidence" means a documented trace through every tier back to the raw input. Supplier certificates and form letters fail. Most rebuttals fail.
• The clock is short. A detention notice gives you 30 days to respond, through CBP's Forced Labor Portal, which has been mandatory for these submissions since January 2026.

Screen every supplier and every named sub-supplier against the Entity List before you place an order, and re-screen when the list is updated. The high-enforcement sectors right now are cotton and apparel, polysilicon and solar, aluminium, copper, tomatoes, seafood and automotive parts.

Antidumping and countervailing duty orders

AD/CVD orders sit outside the tariff schedule and can run past 200%. They apply by scope description, not just by HTS code, so a product can be covered even when the code looks clean — and cash deposits are collected at entry with the final rate set years later at liquidation. Check the active orders for your commodity before you order, not after. This is the single most common way a profitable import becomes a loss.

Intellectual property and marking

Counterfeits and grey-market goods are seized, not returned. Separately, almost every imported article must be marked with its country of origin in English, legibly and permanently, in a place the ultimate purchaser will see it. Failure carries a 10% marking duty on top of everything else, and it is entirely avoidable by telling the factory before production.

Step 4 · Build the real landed cost

Duty on China-origin goods is a stack, not a single rate. Each layer has its own legal authority and its own line on the entry summary.

Two rules of thumb that hold as of August 2026: the 25% rate covers Lists 1, 2 and 3 and is where most industrial goods sit; 7.5% is mostly List 4A consumer goods. Strategic sectors are higher — electric vehicles at 100%, solar cells and semiconductors at 50%. Goods already carrying Section 232 metals duties are exempt from the new forced-labor tariff.

Duty stack estimator

Illustrative only. It shows how the layers combine; it does not tell you which layers apply to your product. That comes from the 10-digit classification.

Step 5 · Get a customs bond

A customs bond guarantees CBP that duties, taxes and penalties will be paid. Every formal entry needs one. You have two choices:

• Single transaction bond — covers one entry, generally written for the value of the goods plus duties, taxes and fees. Sensible for a one-off or a trial shipment.
• Continuous bond — covers all entries for twelve months, with a minimum liability of $50,000 or 10% of the duties, taxes and fees you paid in the previous year, whichever is greater. Cheaper than about four single bonds and required for most regular importers.

With tariff rates where they are, importers who have not resized their continuous bond since 2023 are frequently underbonded. CBP will demand a bond increase and can stop releasing your cargo until it is in place. Review the sufficiency calculation annually.

Step 6 · Agree Incoterms, then book the freight

Incoterms decide who pays for what and, critically, where risk transfers. The common choices for China:

Then choose the mode. Ocean FCL for a full container; LCL for smaller volumes, accepting the extra week for consolidation and deconsolidation; air when the margin justifies it. Transit from the main Chinese ports to the US West Coast typically runs three to five weeks door to door, and considerably longer to inland destinations like El Paso once rail and drayage are added.

Step 7 · Assemble the documents

Every entry needs a complete, consistent document set. Inconsistency between documents is what triggers requests for information.

• Commercial invoice — buyer, seller, detailed description, quantity, unit and total price, currency, Incoterm, country of origin, and any assists, royalties or commissions.
• Packing list — cartons, weights, dimensions, marks and numbers, matching the invoice line for line.
• Bill of lading or air waybill — consignee and notify party correct, or you will not be able to take delivery.
• Certificate of origin and the manufacturer identification code for the actual producer, not the trading company.
• Partner-agency documents — FDA prior notice, FCC authorisation, CPSC certificate, phytosanitary certificate, as applicable.
• Supply-chain due diligence file — supplier screening, sub-supplier list, purchase and production records. Build it now; you cannot assemble it in the 30 days a detention notice gives you.

Watch the valuation. Tooling you paid for, moulds you supplied free, design work done in the US, royalties and selling commissions may all be dutiable additions to the price. Undervaluation is the fastest route to a penalty case, and CBP is actively prosecuting it.

Step 8 · Entry, release and payment

Your customs broker files the entry electronically in ACE. In practice:

• Documents typically go to the broker five to seven days before arrival.
• Entry can be filed up to five days before arrival, and cargo may be released on arrival if nothing is flagged.
• The entry summary (CBP Form 7501) and the duties are due within 10 working days of release.
• Formal entry is generally required for commercial shipments valued over $2,500 — and since the de minimis suspension, everything below that still requires an informal entry and still pays duty.
• The entry liquidates, meaning CBP finalises the duty owed, generally within 314 days.

If cargo is held: a CBP exam (VACIS X-ray or a full intensive devanning) costs you time and exam fees; a partner-agency hold waits on that agency; a UFLPA detention is a documentation fight on a 30-day clock. Build a week of slack into any deadline that matters.

Step 9 · After the goods are delivered

The import is not finished when the truck leaves.

• Keep records for five years from the date of entry — invoices, packing lists, entry summaries, payment evidence, correspondence, classification rationale, origin evidence.
• Fix errors before CBP finds them. A post summary correction works before liquidation; a protest works within 180 days after. Voluntary prior disclosure sharply limits penalties if you find something serious.
• Claim what you are owed. Duty drawback returns up to 99% of duties and fees on goods that are later exported or destroyed, and MPF and HMF are drawback-eligible too. If you paid IEEPA tariffs before February 2026, ask your broker or a customs attorney whether a refund claim applies to your entries.
• Re-check annually. Classifications, exclusions, bond sufficiency and supplier screening all go stale. Given what has happened since 2025, an annual review is now the minimum.

Six mistakes we see most often

1. Pricing the order off the base duty rate alone. The stack is the number. A 3.5% base rate can land above 40% once Section 301 layers are added.
2. Trusting the supplier's HTS code. It is classified for Chinese export, and the liability for the error is yours.
3. Skipping the AD/CVD scope check. Rates above 200% exist, they attach to ordinary-looking products, and there is no appeal to fairness.
4. Assuming a Vietnam or Mexico assembly step resets origin. Origin follows substantial transformation, and UFLPA follows the input regardless of where assembly happens.
5. Missing the ISF window. Twenty-four hours before loading in China, not before arrival in the US.
6. Still assuming small parcels are duty-free. The $800 exemption has been suspended since June 2026. Sample shipments and e-commerce parcels now cost real money.

Common questions

Do I need a customs broker?

Legally, no — an importer of record may file their own entries. Practically, almost every importer uses one, because entry filing runs through CBP's ACE system and the classification, valuation and partner-agency rules are unforgiving. CCS is a logistics consultancy and freight forwarder, not a licensed customs brokerage. We do not classify goods, prepare entries or file with CBP. We select the right licensed broker for your commodity and lane, introduce you to them directly, and manage everything around the entry — freight, documents, timing and delivery.

How much does it cost to import a container from China?

The honest answer is that it depends on the commodity, the code and the lane, and anyone who quotes you a flat number without your HTS code is guessing. What we can do quickly is get your product in front of a licensed broker for a classification, then build the freight, duty and delivery cost around the code they confirm.

Can I avoid Section 301 tariffs by shipping through another country?

No. Section 301 applies by country of origin, and origin changes only through substantial transformation — not through transshipment, relabelling or repackaging. CBP investigates evasion actively and the penalties are criminal as well as civil. Genuine relocation of manufacturing is a legitimate strategy; routing paperwork through a third country is not.

What happens if my supplier turns up on the UFLPA Entity List?

Stop shipping and re-source. Cargo already in transit is likely to be detained, and rebutting the presumption is expensive and usually unsuccessful. This is why screening happens before the purchase order, not after the booking.

Is it still worth importing from China?

For many products, yes — the tariff went up but so did every alternative origin's, and Chinese manufacturing depth and lead times are still hard to match. The answer is specific to your product, your margin and your volume. That comparison, built on classifications your broker confirms, is one of the more useful things we help with.

Sources

Every factual claim above traces to one of these. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

• Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States — USITC. The authoritative rate for your code.
• CBP Trade and CROSS ruling database — classification, entry and ruling guidance.
• USTR final action, forced-labor Section 301 investigations — 23 July 2026, the 10% / 12.5% determinations.
• Indefinite suspension of the de minimis exemption — all non-postal modes, Federal Register, 24 June 2026.
• Indefinite suspension for mail shipments and new postal informal entry process, Federal Register, 24 June 2026.
• DHS announcement of 43 additions to the UFLPA Entity List — 31 July 2026, effective 3 August 2026.
• CBP guidance on Merchandise Processing Fee rates — FY2026 minimum, maximum and ad valorem rate.
• Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, US Supreme Court, 20 February 2026 — holding that IEEPA does not authorise the President to impose tariffs.
• 19 CFR — the customs regulations themselves, including recordkeeping at Part 163.