Importing Japanese knives into the USA

Importing Japanese kitchen knives into the United States from Japan

Your purchase from Knife Japan will attract US taxes.

Knife Japan has a policy of free shipping for all purchases and all destinations. If you’re resident in the USA it’s important to know that when ordering a knife from overseas you’ll now pay an additional sum in order to receive it. These days free shipping doesn't mean 'no more to pay'.

On August 29th, 2025 the US Government ended the $800 de minimis allowance for global goods entering the United States. Knife Japan is based in Japan so if you buy from us you will now also pay the relevant import duty and an additional tariff.

Any and every purchase from overseas is now subject to import duty (a tax on imported goods). For kitchen knives (tariff code 8211.92.9030) the rate of import duty is 6.1%. This has long been in place but was previously only payable on imports over $800. It is now payable on all purchases due to the removal of the tax-free allowance.

An additional tax (the reciprocal tariff) is also being applied by the current US administration. The reciprocal tariff on Japanese-made goods shipped to the USA is 15%. 

All shipments from Knife Japan to addresses in the USA are placed in the safe hands of DHL Express. DHL prepays your import duty and tariff to speed things through customs and the company will add a fixed disbursement fee to your invoice to cover that service.

(Along with many other postal services around the world Japan Post has suspended commercial parcel deliveries to the US. We'll provide information when services resume.)

How much extra will I have to pay?

As a guide, for kitchen knives from Knife Japan it's roughly $12 plus 21.1% of your purchase. For hunting knives, roughly $12 plus 19.4% of your purchase. For scissors, roughly $12 plus 19.3% of your purchase.

How are the tariff and import duty paid? 

Deliveries made by DHL Express are managed by the company from acceptance of the parcel to final delivery. They will send an invoice and payment link to you by SMS or email prior to delivery, for you to pay the assessed amount online. 

If the declared value of your parcel is over $2000 then your purchase becomes what’s called a formal entry, with additional paperwork.

Is all this legal?

Some of it is. The reciprocal tariff has been ruled illegal. In a 7-4 decision, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected the argument that the tariffs were permitted under an emergency economic powers act, calling them "invalid as contrary to law". The appeal will be heard by the Supreme Court.

Please retain records of your tariff payments in case that portion of your payment is eligible for a refund down the track.

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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