Importing Japanese knives into the USA

Importing Japanese kitchen knives into the United States from Japan

*sigh*

Since the end of August 2025 the application of tariffs on knives shipped from Knife Japan to customers in the USA has been consistent: import duty of 6.1% plus the reciprocal tariff of 15%. A fee is added by DHL Express to speed the parcel through the customs process. Not the end of the world.

Forward to early November. US-bound parcels from Knife Japan have recently been subject to a tariff rate of 50% and we expect this to be the new normal. This is the applicable tariff on steel derivatives under revisions to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 put in place by the current US administration. The harmonized tariff code for kitchen knives was added to the list of Section 232-subject codes on August 18th.

Review by the US Supreme Court review might see changes. The tariffs have been ruled illegal (unconstitutional?) by lower courts.

We'll update this page when we know more. Meanwhile, if you are a US resident please disregard any previous advice and expect to be hit with a tax bill of around 50% for any knives purchased from Knife Japan and set to your address in the United States. Should we receive an order from you we will provide a more specific figure prior to shipping. 

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 exceed a certain threshold per annum (the 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 a 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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