For most of the last six years, the sourcing advice was simple. Get out of China. Vietnam, India, anywhere else would do, because China carried the Section 301 duties and nobody else did.
That advice is now out of date. Since 24 July, a second Section 301 action charges goods from 60 economies, Vietnam and India included. The old China lists still apply on top for Chinese goods, but only for the products on them. So the gap between China and everyone else now depends on the product.
To show how much, we ran the same $10,000 order of three ordinary products through the engine, from four countries.
Leather handbags: China still costs double
| Origin | Layers | Total | Duty |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 9% + 25% (9903.88.03) + 12.5% (9903.05.31) | 46.5% | $4,650 |
| Vietnam | 9% + 12.5% (9903.05.84) | 21.5% | $2,150 |
| India | 9% + 10% (9903.05.44) | 19% | $1,900 |
| Italy | raised to a 10% floor (9903.05.39) | 10% | $1,000 |
Handbags sit on one of the original China lists at 25%. Add the new 12.5% and a Chinese bag pays more than twice what a Vietnamese one does. Here the old advice still holds.
Ceramic mugs: Vietnam saves nothing
| Origin | Layers | Total | Duty |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 10% + 12.5% (9903.05.31) | 22.5% | $2,250 |
| Vietnam | 10% + 12.5% (9903.05.84) | 22.5% | $2,250 |
| India | 10% + 10% (9903.05.44) | 20% | $2,000 |
| Italy | no addition, already at the 10% floor (9903.05.38) | 10% | $1,000 |
This mug code is on none of the old China lists. So China and Vietnam pay exactly the same: the normal 10% plus 12.5%. A company that moved its mug orders to Vietnam to dodge China tariffs is now paying the same duty it would have paid in China.
Cotton hoodies: the gap shrinks
| Origin | Layers | Total | Duty |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 16.5% + 7.5% (9903.88.15) + 12.5% (9903.05.31) | 36.5% | $3,650 |
| Vietnam | 16.5% + 12.5% (9903.05.84) | 29% | $2,900 |
| India | 16.5% + 10% (9903.05.44) | 26.5% | $2,650 |
| Italy | no addition, above the 10% floor (9903.05.38) | 16.5% | $1,650 |
Rates as answered by the Falmoran engine for entries on 15 Oct 2026. Duty only; MPF and HMF are not included. Not legal advice; a licensed customs broker files the entry.
Hoodies are on the smaller 7.5% China list. Vietnam still wins, but by $750 on $10,000, not by thousands. Freight, lead time or one bad batch of fabric can wipe that out.
Why Italy keeps winning
Italy is not cheap to make things in. It wins on duty because of how the new action treats the EU. For EU goods it is a floor of 10%, not an extra layer. Goods that already paid 10% or more pay nothing extra. Goods that paid less are raised to 10% in total. That is why an Italian handbag lands at 10% while a Vietnamese one lands at 21.5%.
Japan, South Korea and Switzerland get the same treatment with a 12.5% floor, and Taiwan with 10%.
What this means for sourcing
- Stop comparing countries. Compare product and country, code by code.
- For Chinese goods, check whether the code is on an old 301 list. That one fact decides whether moving out of China still pays.
- Before a move, run the landed cost on your ten biggest codes, not your average.
Check your own products
Paste a few products and see the code and every duty layer. No sign-up.