US Import Duty on Toys

From Chapter 95 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, Revision 19 (2026):

Note what this table is and is not. It is the rate attached to the tariff line. It is not the total you will pay, because duties imposed through trade actions are added separately and customs fees exist. But it is the starting point, and the starting point is zero.

Search for toy tariffs and you will eventually meet the figure 70%. It is in the schedule, on the same line, in the second column — and it applies to four countries.

General note 3(b) says the Column 2 rates apply to products of Belarus, Cuba, North Korea and the Russian Federation. That is the whole list. China is not on it, so goods of Chinese origin are dutiable at the Column 1 General rate, which for heading 9503 is Free.

We are spelling this out because the 70% figure circulates in sourcing forums attached to Chinese goods, and it is the kind of error that kills a business plan before it starts — not by costing money, but by stopping someone who would have been fine.

The base rate being zero does not mean importing toys from China is duty-free in practice. Additional duties imposed through trade actions are layered on top, and they are set out separately from Chapter 95 and revised as policy changes.

For goods of China the figure today is 12.5%. The Office of the United States Trade Representative set an additional Section 301 duty at that rate for goods entered on or after 24 July 2026 (USTR final action, 23 July 2026). On a consignment with a customs value of $10,000 that is $1,250, on top of a base duty of zero.

Trade-action rates are revised as policy changes, and a rate that is out of date becomes a line in your landed-cost model. Check the current USTR notice before you cost a consignment.

So: the authoritative source is the tariff schedule itself at hts.usitc.gov, which is where we got the base rates on this page, and for a specific consignment the right adviser is a licensed customs broker. What we can do is tell you exactly what the goods are — what they are made to do, what carton they ship in, what testing exists — which is what a broker needs from you anyway.

Underneath 9503.00.00 the schedule splits into statistical lines, and the split is not by material or by function. It is by age:

«In heading 9503, classification is based on the youngest age for which the product is intended. For example, an item labeled «For ages 2–5» would be appropriately classified in the «Under 3 years of age» category.»

The statistical suffixes divide at under 3 years and 3 to 12 years. And note the trap in that example: a toy marked for ages 2 to 5 classifies as under-3, because the rule looks at the youngest end of the range, not the middle.

Two entirely separate systems therefore hinge on the same field. CPSC’s third-party testing obligation attaches to toys intended primarily for children 12 and under. The tariff schedule classifies by the youngest intended age. One field, two regimes.

Which makes our own number uncomfortable to publish, so we will publish it: the age grading is recorded on 73,640 of our 385,341 items. 16.3%. For everything else we have to ask the factory, and we would rather tell you that now than have you find out at classification. It is also why, on the plush pages, we treat the age field as the single most informative thing on a card — items with a declared age are far more likely to have been tested.

OPTTOYSCHINA is a wholesale platform operated by OPTTOYSCHINA LLP, Kazakhstan: catalog, requests and product selection. The seller — invoice, payment, export, documents and claims — is our manufacturing partner Yifeng Group, China. The catalogue holds 385,341 items from 5,233 factories, with the price published per piece and per carton, the carton quantity and the box dimensions stated, and the maker named on every card. The minimum is one factory carton of one model; minimum order total 2,000 CNY (≈ $313).

Our manufacturing partner is Yifeng Group (艺丰集团) in Chenghai, Shantou. The group has worked in Chenghai since 1992; its first plant, Shifeng Culture Development Co., Ltd, dates from that year and runs more than 35,000 m² of production area with an annual output of USD 60 M. AJT Testing Services Limited, founded in 2007, is historically linked with the group’s founding family and works in the same Chenghai ecosystem; the group keeps a permanent 15,000 m² showroom in Shantou with more than 500,000 toy samples. See our factory partner page.

Every batch is checked line by line with photo and video before the cartons are taped, and transit ranges are published for 62 destinations.

It is not customs advice. It is a reading of a published schedule, quoted with its revision number and the date we read it: Revision 19 (2026), read on 24 September 2026. Classification is the importer’s legal responsibility, and a licensed broker is the person who carries it with you.

It is not a total. The base rate is one component. Additional duties from trade actions, merchandise processing fees and harbour fees are others; for goods of China the Section 301 duty is 12.5% since 24 July 2026.

Schedules are revised. This one is Revision 19 of 2026; there will be a Revision 20. The figures on this page are true of the document we read and we will not pretend they are permanent. If this page is old when you find it, the schedule is one click away and it always wins.