Importing Japanese knives into the USA

Importing Japanese kitchen knives into the United States from Japan

*sigh*

When the new tariff regime came into effect at the end of August 2025 the application of tariffs on knives shipped from Knife Japan to customers in the USA was consistent: import duty of 6.1% plus the reciprocal tariff of 15%. A fee of $17.00 was added by DHL Express. Not the end of the world.

Forward to early November. Since that time US-bound parcels from Knife Japan have 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 if anything changes. Meanwhile, if you are a US resident please expect to be hit with a tax bill of around 50% for any knives purchased from Knife Japan and sent to your address in the United States. Should we receive an order from you we will provide a more specific figure prior to shipping. 

Please note that Knife Japan is not involved with the collection of tariffs or the import processing fee. DHL Express will send an invoice to your email address along with a payment link before your parcel reaches US territory. 

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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