At a glance
- Client: A Taiwan-based consumer-goods exporter selling on Amazon US
- Sector: Consumer goods / e-commerce trade
- Region: China, Philippines, United States
- Service: Landed-cost and trade-compliance modelling
The challenge
The client sells home goods on Amazon US, sourced from China. With US tariffs on Chinese goods rising sharply, it asked whether processing the goods in the Philippines and shipping from there would lower the cost of landing them in the US. Answering that meant classifying each product, comparing the duty stack under Chinese and Philippine origin, building a full landed-cost model including Amazon fees, and checking whether the work done in the Philippines would legally change the country of origin.
What we did
- For the Amazon question, classified 8 home-goods SKUs by US HTS code and built a duty matrix for China-origin and Philippine-origin scenarios.
- Built a landed-cost model covering ex-factory cost, freight, insurance, duty, MPF, HMF, brokerage, CFS charges and Amazon FBA fees, for full-container and LCL shipments.
- Mapped compliance risks: US country-of-origin rules (19 CFR 102), AD/CVD exposure, HS misclassification, and labelling and testing for CBP and Amazon.
Topics covered
- US duty stacking: MFN, Section 301, IEEPA and reciprocal tariffs
- Country-of-origin and substantial-transformation rules
- Landed cost per unit, FCL vs LCL
What we delivered
An Amazon US origin analysis (September 2025): a working spreadsheet with a duty matrix, landed-cost calculator, risk register and import checklist, a written landed-cost answer, and a one-page summary.
China vs Philippines origin analysis for Amazon US
Spreadsheet model plus one-page summary · 8 SKUs; 1-page summary
- HS codes and effective duty for each SKU under China and Philippine origin
- Landed-cost calculator: FOB, freight, insurance, duty, MPF, HMF, brokerage, FBA fees
- Full-container and LCL cost scenarios
- Country-of-origin, AD/CVD, classification and labelling risks
- Importer-of-record and customs-broker checklist
What we found
- For Amazon US, China-origin duties on the 8 SKUs ranged from 40.8% to 61%, against 22.3% to 30.3% for Philippine origin.
- The verdict was a conditional go. Routing through the Philippines pays only if Philippine origin can be proven and processing costs stay below the duty saved. Textiles made from Chinese fabric stay Chinese-origin under US rules.
- Non-textiles such as rods, baskets and mats showed the largest duty benefit. Small LCL shipments raised per-unit cost because fixed fees are spread over fewer units.
In numbers
- US duty stack for China-origin goods: MFN base plus Section 301 (7.5% or 25%), a 20% IEEPA tariff and a 10% reciprocal tariff. Philippine-origin goods carried MFN plus a 19% reciprocal tariff (as of September 2025).
Key takeaway
Moving final processing to South-East Asia can cut US duties sharply, but only for products where the work done there legally changes the country of origin, and only at volumes that spread the fixed costs.