Tariff Duty Rates on Top US Imported Goods from China

May 20, 2010
Daniel Workman

Imported Laptops Notebooks and Netbooks from China - viagallery.com (Flickr)

How much does the U.S. government earn from tariff duties on America's top 10 imports from China?

America’s top 10 imported goods from China had a total value of US$73 billion in 2009. That figure represents about 25% of the $296.4 billion in Chinese imports shipped to the U.S. last year. The overall amount of U.S. imports of Chinese goods in 2009 is about the same as total imports from China in 2008.

Top 10 US Imports from China

With the exception of children’s toys, computer technology products dominated the 2009 list of top US imports from China.

Laptops, notebooks and netbooks … US$22.9 billion (7.7% of total US imports from China, up 19.2%)
Cell phones … $13.6 billion (4.6%, up 21.5%)
Toys including tricycles … $8.1 billion (2.7%, down 9.1%)
Video games … $6.7 billion (2.2%, down 19.3%)
Voice, image and data transmission equipment … $4.8 billion (1.6%, down 17.2%)
LCD television screens … $4.4 billion (1.5%, up 10.6%)
Computer monitors … $3.5 billion (1.2%, down 35.2%)
Computer parts and accessories … $3.2 billion (1.1%, down 23.7%)
Other computer printed circuit assemblies … $3.1 billion (1%, down 9.1%)
Computer processing units … $2.9 billion (0.99%, up 3.6%).

Among the top 10 Chinese exports, four product categories posted increased sales to the U.S. over 2008.

Harmonized Tariff Schedule Codes for Chinese Goods

Before looking up the tariff duty charged on Chinese imports, one must first identify the corresponding harmonized tariff schedule (HTS) code for each top 10 item.

These 10-digit codes are shown below.

Cell phones … HTS code 8517.12.00.50
Computer monitors … 8528.51.00.00
Computer parts and accessories … 8473.30.51.00
Computer processing units … 8471.50.01.50
Laptops, notebooks and netbooks … 8471.30.01.00
LCD television screens … 8528.72.72.50
Other computer printed circuit assemblies … 8473.30.11.80
Toys including tricycles … 9503.00.00.80
Video games … 9504.10.00.00
Voice, image and data transmission equipment … 8517.62.00.50.

US Tariff Duties on Top Imports from China

Among the top 10 Chinese exported products to America, only LCD television screens from China (HTS code 8528.72.72.50) is charged with tariff duties. The duty rate is 5%. Based on that 5% rate, the U.S. government collected $219.2 million in tariff duties ($4.4 billion times 5%) on that one product category. All other top 9 exports from China are duty free.

So what if the U.S. imposed that 5% tariff duty on all top 10 imports from China? Admittedly politically sensitive, that measure would generate an additional $3.6 billion in tariff duties from those commodities alone. Taxes are then charged on amounts that include those duties. This would give even more revenues to the U.S. government.

Sources: United States International Trade Commission’s Interactive Tariff and Trade DataWeb and the United States International Trade Commission Harmonized Tariff Schedule.