What it costs to bring EU security hardware into the US

One real entry, broken down

A July 2026 shipment of keys, a phone and accessories from Germany, declared at $2,974. Total import charges were $550.68 — an effective 18.52% on declared value.

Only 15 of those 18.5 points are the tariff. The rest is the Merchandise Processing Fee and broker charges. About $71 of it is carrier brokerage margin — a cost structure, not a tax, and one that a different broker removes entirely. We publish this because the difference between "the tariff is 15%" and "landed cost is 18.5%" is exactly the gap that surprises people.

The rate depends on origin, not on where it ships from

Current as of 20 August 2026. The base layer moved twice this year: IEEPA was struck down in February and replaced by a 10% Section 122 surcharge, which hit its 150-day statutory limit and expired 24 July 2026. A Section 301 forced-labor tariff replaced it — 10% for most economies, 12.5% for a 46-economy tier that includes China and Vietnam.

A single European shipment routinely carries three origins. Ours did: German keys, Chinese accessories, a Vietnamese-assembled handset — one waybill, three different rate stacks. Origin is a legal determination about where a product was substantially transformed, not a shipping address, and it is settled per line rather than per shipment.

Why small shipments are punished

The Merchandise Processing Fee is 0.3464% of entered value, with a floor of $33.58 and a ceiling of $651.50 in FY2026. Our entry paid the floor.

So would an entry of any value up to roughly $9,694 — the fee is identical whether you import $500 of keys or $9,000 of them. On a small shipment that floor alone can exceed the duty. It is the single strongest argument for consolidating inbound freight, and it is why we buy in batches rather than restocking continuously. The same logic works against you as an individual importer: a one-unit personal import pays the same $33.58 floor plus brokerage that a full pallet does.

Batteries: the constraint that is not a tariff

Lithium cells are the reason several European vendors cannot sell their phones and laptops to US buyers at all. None of this is duty — it is transport law, and it bites earlier in the process than customs does.

This is why a NitroPhone cannot simply be ordered from Germany and posted to you: the vendor's own shop restricts delivery of battery-containing devices outside the EU. Holding US-side stock, with the paperwork and the handling in place, is what makes those products buyable here at all.

The paperwork gates the listing, not just the border

Duty is the visible cost. The documentation is the one that actually stops products reaching US buyers — and the same test report satisfies the carrier, the customs entry and the marketplaces. One document, four gatekeepers. Missing it does not produce a warning; it produces a blocked listing or a refused parcel.

This is the real barrier for a European manufacturer. A vendor arrives holding EU test data and none of the US-specific artefacts the market wants: a certificate determination per product, filings lodged before entry, hazmat attributes populated per marketplace, a Prop 65 assessment, and a registered carrier for the domestic leg. It is why excellent European hardware is often simply unavailable here, and why a US channel is worth more than the shipping it replaces.

Two vendors, two completely different paths

It is the same reason both vendors reach US buyers through a US channel at all. A European manufacturer selling directly into the US either builds a domestic position or accepts that a large part of the market cannot practically buy from them.