Import duty from Vietnam to USA and what you actually pay

Import duty from Vietnam to the USA is the standard Most Favored Nation rate for the product's HTS code, because Vietnam has no free trade agreement with the United States that would lower it. There is no single Vietnam duty rate, and there is no built-in preference the way there is for Mexico or Canada under USMCA. What you pay is the base rate that any WTO trading partner pays for that code, plus whatever US trade-policy layer is in force at the time you import. That policy layer has moved repeatedly through 2025 and 2026, so the durable way to plan is to nail the base rate from the code and treat the extra layer as a variable you confirm before you file.

Here is how the Vietnam lane actually works: why the code sets the rate, what the base bands look like by product, the trade-policy layer to check, and where importers get it wrong.

Vietnam has no FTA, so MFN rates apply

The United States granted Vietnam Permanent Normal Trade Relations status in 2001, which means Vietnamese goods get the same base treatment as any other WTO member: the Most Favored Nation column-one rate in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. There is no free trade agreement between the two countries, so there is no tariff preference to claim and no rules-of-origin test to pass to get a lower base rate. That cuts both ways. You do not get a duty break for sourcing in Vietnam, but you also are not hit with a punitive column-two rate reserved for a handful of non-normal-trade countries. The base rate is simply the standard one attached to your HTS code.

The base rate depends entirely on the product

Because the rate rides on the code, two shipments from the same Vietnamese factory can owe very different duty. The base MFN bands that matter most for Vietnam sourcing look roughly like this: most consumer electronics in Chapter 85 come in at a zero base rate; furniture in Chapter 94 runs from free to a few percent; footwear in Chapter 64 is one of the highest bands, from about 8 percent to 37.5 percent depending on construction and materials; and apparel in Chapters 61 and 62 runs from single digits to over 30 percent by fiber and cut. Vietnam is a major source for exactly the high-duty categories, footwear and apparel, so the classification is where real money is won or lost. Get the code right first, then the rate follows.

The 2026 trade-policy layer on top

Since July 24, 2026, goods of Vietnam pay an additional 12.5 percent under the Section 301 forced-labor action that USTR applied to 60 economies, added on top of the product's MFN rate. It replaced the temporary Section 122 surcharge, which expired on July 23, 2026. Products covered by Section 232, such as steel and aluminum articles, and the items listed in the action's exclusion annexes follow their own rules instead. So a Vietnamese product with a 20 percent general rate now enters at 32.5 percent, and a duty-free line at 12.5 percent. Unlike China, Vietnam carries none of the original 2018 and 2019 Section 301 lists, which is why the same product can cost 25 points less from a Vietnamese factory. Keep the layer as a variable in your costing, because it is the part most likely to move again.

Classifying a Vietnamese supplier's catalog before you cost the lane

With a flat 12.5 percent layer on almost everything, the HTS code is what separates a 12.5 percent landed duty from a 50 percent one, and Vietnam supplies exactly the categories where the base rates are steep: footwear, apparel, bags and furniture. A brand moving production from China, or adding a second Vietnamese factory, usually has 100 to 1,000 SKUs to classify before the first purchase order, and the table below is what that costs by route.

Each row comes back with the 10-digit code, the reasoning and the duty stack for Vietnamese origin next to the China number, so the move can be priced line by line before you commit. Plans are on the HS code classification pricing page, and footwear and apparel buyers can compare tools on the trade compliance software for apparel importers page.

How to work out the exact duty

The method is the same as any lane. First, classify the product to its 10-digit HTS code, because the base rate is attached to that line. Second, read the MFN base rate for the code. Third, apply it to the customs value, which is normally the transaction value of the goods, and remember that for FOB terms freight is not in the dutiable value while for CIF-style pricing more of the cost may be. Fourth, add the 12.5 percent layer for Vietnamese origin unless the product is excluded or covered by Section 232. Fifth, add the Merchandise Processing Fee and, for ocean freight, the Harbor Maintenance Fee. Pulling the values off a supplier's paperwork is faster when you can turn the commercial invoice into structured line-item data and match each line to its code and origin. Then run the whole thing through the import duty calculator to see the landed number.

A worked example

Say you import running shoes made in Vietnam, valued at 100,000 dollars for the shipment. First you classify: shoes of this type sit in Chapter 64, and the exact heading turns on the upper and sole material, which can put the base rate anywhere from single digits to the low 20s or higher. Suppose the base MFN rate for the line is 20 percent; that is 20,000 dollars of base duty alone. Now add the 12.5 percent layer in force since July 24, 2026, another 12,500 dollars, for 32,500 dollars of duty, plus the Merchandise Processing Fee and Harbor Maintenance Fee. The base duty on footwear dwarfs the fees, which is why an accurate code matters far more here than in a zero-rate electronics lane. Misclassify the shoe into a lower footwear line and you have understated duty on every future entry.

Where importers get the Vietnam lane wrong

The first mistake is expecting a preference that does not exist. Vietnam has no FTA, so there is no duty-free claim to make and no certificate of origin that lowers the base rate. The second is assuming a single Vietnam rate; the rate is the product's rate, and it swings from zero to over 37 percent by code. The third is baking a volatile trade-policy percentage into a spreadsheet and forgetting to update it, which quietly makes every quote wrong. The fourth is a classification error in footwear or apparel, where the bands are steep and a wrong heading changes the duty by double digits. And the fifth is watching only the goods cost, since on a high-duty category the duty can rival the freight. Each of these starts from a correct code. Describe your product on the live classifier to pin the heading before you cost the lane.

Frequently asked questions

How much is import duty from Vietnam to the USA?

There is no single rate. You pay the Most Favored Nation base duty for the product's HTS code, which ranges from zero on many electronics to over 37 percent on some footwear, plus an additional 12.5 percent for Vietnamese origin since July 24, 2026, and the standard entry fees. Vietnam has no free trade agreement with the US, so no preference lowers the base rate. Classify the product to find its exact rate.

Does Vietnam have a free trade agreement with the US?

No. Vietnam has Permanent Normal Trade Relations status, granted in 2001, which gives it standard Most Favored Nation treatment, but there is no bilateral free trade agreement. That means no tariff preference to claim and no rules-of-origin test to pass for a lower base rate, unlike the USMCA lane for Mexico and Canada. You pay the normal MFN rate for the code.

Why is duty on shoes and clothing from Vietnam so high?

Footwear and apparel carry some of the highest base MFN rates in the entire tariff schedule, reaching 37.5 percent on some footwear and over 30 percent on some garments, and those rates apply regardless of country. Vietnam is simply a leading source of exactly those high-duty categories, so the high bill comes from the product, not from Vietnam. The exact material and construction decide the rate, which is why classification accuracy matters most here.

What is the tariff on Vietnam goods now?

Since July 24, 2026, most goods of Vietnam pay an additional 12.5 percent under a Section 301 forced-labor action, on top of the product's MFN rate. It replaced the Section 122 surcharge that expired on July 23, 2026. Section 232 goods such as steel and aluminum articles and the items in the action's exclusion annexes are treated separately.

The Vietnam duty question resolves once you have a correct code and the 12.5 percent layer added. Classify your product on the live classifier, price it with the import duty calculator, and if you also source from China, compare the numbers against our guide to import duty from China to the USA.