Every landed-cost sheet built before July 24 is wrong now. The temporary surcharge that bridged the spring expired at midnight, and USTR's Section 301 duties took its place: 12.5% on China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey, the UAE, and Israel; 10% on India and the UK; a 10% all-in floor on the EU; caps of 12.5% on Japan, Korea, and Switzerland. All of it sits on top of the normal duty for the product. The Federal Register notice has the country list and the exemptions.
The direct answer for a founder: re-cost every SKU you will sell in Q4 at the new rate for its country of origin, decide whether any of your sourcing should move, and make sure the duty goes into inventory rather than into this month's expenses. The third point is where most brands quietly lose track of their margin.
What the new rate is for your product
The Section 301 rate stacks on the normal duty, so the product matters as much as the country.
- Beauty. Cosmetics carry no normal duty, so a Korean serum or a Chinese-made pump now pays the full 12.5%. K-beauty demand is running straight into a higher landed cost.
- Jewelry. Finished jewelry carries roughly 5.5% to 6% normal duty. Thailand lands near 18% all-in, India near 16%, China above 25% because older China tariffs still apply, and Italy at the 10% floor. Loose natural diamonds and colored stones cut in the EU or Switzerland are exempt; the same stones cut in India pay 10%. Lab-grown is not exempt. Raw and semi-manufactured precious metal is.
- Supplements and CPG. Ingredients from India pay 10%; from China 12.5%. Aluminum and steel packaging still carries the separate 50% metals tariff, and cans filled abroad were denied relief. Packaging with 15% or less metal by weight, like most pumps and closures, is outside that one.
As an illustration only: a jewelry brand with $30 million of cost of goods sourcing 70% from Thailand carries about $3.8 million of duty at 18%. The same goods made in Valenza carry about $2.1 million at 10%. Pandora, which makes in Thailand, told investors in its August 12 report that it now assumes 12.5% there instead of the 19% it had feared, which is the kind of relief you only see if you rebuilt the model.
Where the duty belongs in your books
Duties, freight, and brokerage are part of what the inventory cost you. They belong in inventory and reach the profit and loss statement as cost of goods sold when the units sell. That is the accounting rule and the tax rule, and it has two consequences for a founder.
First, the margin hit from July 24 does not show up in July. It shows up in October, November, and December, when the goods you are importing now sell. If your P&L still looks fine in September, that is timing, not safety.
Second, the opposite mistake is just as common. When a duty bill gets posted to an expense account the month it is paid, inventory is understated, this month's cost is overstated, and gross margin by SKU becomes fiction. We see this in a majority of the books we take over from importing brands, and it is the reason a founder can believe a product is profitable while the accountant says it is not.
The fix is a standard cost per SKU that includes the duty at the post-July 24 rate, refreshed when rates or freight move, and a routine that catches invoices from the broker before they land in the wrong account.
Three sourcing questions worth pricing now
- Italy versus Thailand for jewelry, and EU-cut versus Indian-cut stones. An 8-point spread on finished goods and a 10-point spread on stones is enough to change a sourcing decision for 2027, but only if you compare landed cost, not unit price.
- Where the metal is. A Chinese aluminum aerosol can carries the metals tariff; a plastic pump with a small metal spring may not. Beauty and beverage brands should ask suppliers for metal content by weight before assuming the rate.
- Who pays in Canada. Canada's counter-tariffs on US goods start September 8. If you sell into Canada on delivered-duty-paid terms, that cost is yours; re-read the contract.
Goods that were on the water before July 24 and entered by July 28 were exempt. If your broker charged the new rate on those entries, that is a protest, not a cost.
Where your facts change the answer
Country of origin follows where the product was substantially transformed, not where it shipped from, and that is a customs-law question with real penalties for guessing. First-sale valuation and duty drawback on exports can reduce what you pay, but each has documentation requirements. A bonded warehouse can defer the duty for slow-turning SKUs.
If your standard costs were last set before July 24, the fastest check is to pull one Q4 purchase order, add the new duty and current freight, and compare it with the cost your system will use when those units sell. If the two numbers differ, that is the monthly accounting conversation to have before the next container lands.
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