Importing Japanese knives into the USA

Importing Japanese kitchen knives into the United States from Japan
Information is accurate as of 2025.8.3. 

Summary:

The revised tariff rate for Japanese-made goods shipped to the USA is 15%. 

On August 29th, 2025 the US Government is ending the $800 de minimis allowance for global goods entering the United States, meaning that eventually this tariff will be levied on all orders from Knife Japan.

From September, tax will be paid by you if your order from Knife Japan is delivered by DHL Express. (For vendors who ship with UPS or FedEx it's the same story.)

For the time being, postal deliveries still qualify for the de minimis allowance of $800. From September, unless otherwise requested Knife Japan will ship US orders by Japan Post so that there are no import duties, tariff or other charges to pay.

Well that's how it's all looking to us, according to the presidential executive order of July 30th, 2025 titled 'SUSPENDING DUTY-FREE DE-MINIMUS TREATMENT FOR ALL COUNTRIES'. 

Section 2 of this order ('Suspension of Duty-Free de minimis Treatment') states:

(a)  The duty-free de minimis exemption provided under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C) shall no longer apply to any shipment of articles not covered by 50 U.S.C. 1702(b), regardless of value, country of origin, mode of transportation, or method of entry.  Accordingly, all such shipments, except those sent through the international postal network, shall be subject to all applicable duties, taxes, fees, exactions, and charges.  International postal shipments not covered by 50 U.S.C. 1702(b) shall be subject to the duty rates described in section 3 of this order.  Entry for all shipments that — prior to the effective date of this order — qualified for the de minimis exemption, except for shipments sent through the international postal network, shall be filed using an appropriate entry type in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) by a party qualified to make such entry.

(b)  Shipments sent through the international postal network that would otherwise qualify for the de minimis exemption under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C) shall pass free of any duties except those specified in section 3 of this order, and without the preparation of an entry by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), until such time as CBP establishes a new entry process and publishes that process in the Federal Register.  

What this means is that from the beginning of September items shipped from Japan with DHL or a similar service will attract the 15% tariff, to be paid by the importer (you). This is because these companies have the administrative systems in place to facilitate payment of the new tariff.

A delivery company like DHL Express prepays your tax to expedite delivery, and when you pay your import duty and/or tariff to the company you are reimbursing them. They add a 'disbursement fee' for this facility which is added to your tax payment (customers in EU jurisdictions pay the same disbursement fee for DHL's prepayment of VAT on their import). We haven't yet established what the fee amounts to in the US.

Items shipped using the international postal network remain tax-free for an indefinite period beyond August 29th, 2025 if their value is $800 or below.

Some aspects of the new system are not clear. It is difficult to ascertain at this point if the 4.6% import duty on knives (HTC code 8211.92) specified in the current Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Revision 10 (2024) will be replaced by the new tariff or 'stacked' so that the total tariff becomes 15% tariff + 4.6% import duty. Tariffs can be imposed unilaterally, import duties are governed by international trade agreements.

In section 6 of the executive order ('Severability'), article 2(b)ii outlines the temporary respite for items shipped with Japan Post:

(ii)  Duty-free de minimis treatment under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C) shall remain available for postal shipments until notification by the Secretary to the President that adequate systems are in place to fully and expeditiously process and collect duties applicable for postal shipments otherwise eligible for duty-free de minimis treatment.  After such notification, duty-free de minimis treatment under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C) shall not be available for postal shipments.

From the beginning of September Knife Japan will ship all orders to the United States by Japan Post by default so that the de minimis allowance applies to your import. At some point this allowance will also be suspended. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. We can ship by DHL if you prefer, but in that case you'll be charged the new import taxes.

How are these taxes paid? 

Deliveries made by DHL Express are managed by the company from acceptance of the parcel to delivery. They will send a payment link to you by SMS or email prior to delivery for you to pay the assessed tax online.

With a postal item, if the item is less than $2,000 in value a Customs and Border Protection official will usually prepare the paperwork for importing it, assess the amount payable, and release it for delivery by USPS. If the value is over $800 then your parcel will attract import duty and you’ll be asked to pay a CBP processing fee (you can’t say no). We’ve read that the minimum fee is $25. Import duty and the processing fee are usually paid at your local post office, where your package is forwarded.

If the declared value of your parcel is over $2000 then your purchase becomes what’s called a formal entry, your delivery will be withheld and you’ll have to deal with further paperwork or consult a customs broker.

A note about state sales tax

State sales tax, if it applies in your state, is levied at the point of sale.

It's only relevant for an overseas vendor if sales for that vendor exceeds a certain threshold per annum (that figure varies, but it's a LOT of knives). We don't exceed those thresholds for any state, so state sales tax will not apply to your order.

If you've ordered from an overseas vendor on a platform like Ebay or Etsy and found yourself paying state sales tax, that's why. For state sales tax purposes sales on those platforms aren't calculated on seller-by-seller basis, but on the sales of the platform as a whole. As a result they will collect state sales tax on every transaction. 

If you have any questions about our products or how we can deliver them to you in the USA, please drop us a line using the form below.

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