For most of the last two decades, "sourcing from Asia" meant China. That equation flipped in 2018 when the US administration invoked Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act and imposed additional tariffs on roughly two-thirds of Chinese imports. Those tariffs were kept and expanded through subsequent administrations, and they remain the single biggest reason a general contractor in Los Angeles quietly reroutes their tile order through Ho Chi Minh City instead of Foshan.
This guide walks through the math. Same product, same 6-digit HS code, same FOB origin cost — different flag on the container. What lands at your yard looks very different once customs is done.
The three layers stacked on Chinese imports (US)
When a container of building materials from China clears US customs today, three things typically stack:
- The MFN duty — the standard "most-favoured-nation" rate the US applies to almost every trading partner. For fiber cement it's 0%, for porcelain tile 8.5%, for hardwood plywood 8%. This applies to Vietnam too.
- Section 301 (List 3) — a flat 25% surcharge on almost every line of Chinese-origin building materials, in effect since 2018 and maintained under both administrations since. Does not apply to Vietnam.
- Antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) — product-specific
penalties the US Department of Commerce has imposed on Chinese
manufacturers found to be selling below cost or benefiting from state
subsidies. These are punishing, and they apply on top of everything else:
- Chinese ceramic tile: ~40% CVD.
- Chinese hardwood plywood: ~195% combined AD/CVD in recent orders.
- Chinese quartz surface products: ~300% combined AD/CVD.
- Chinese aluminum extrusions: 86.4% CVD.
None of the AD/CVD orders above apply to Vietnamese-origin goods.
Comparison across our 6 material groups (illustrative, per USD 20,000 FOB into the US)
The table below uses typical HS classifications, current MFN rates and publicly reported Section 301 / AD/CVD figures. It ignores freight (comparable from both origins), insurance and destination sales tax — this is the pure trade-measure delta.
| Material group | HS code | US duty on Vietnam | US duty on China | Extra cost on China container |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiber cement (Duragreen®-type) | 6811.82 | 0% MFN | 0% MFN + 25% Section 301 = 25% | +USD 5,000 |
| Porcelain / ceramic tile | 6907.22 | 8.5% MFN | 8.5% + 25% Section 301 + ~40% CVD = ~73.5% | +USD 13,000 |
| Sanitary ware (vitreous china) | 6910.10 | 5.8% MFN | 5.8% + 25% Section 301 = 30.8% | +USD 5,000 |
| Aluminum profiles | 7604.29 | 5% MFN | 5% + 25% Section 301 + 86.4% CVD = ~116% | +USD 22,300 |
| Engineered quartz surfaces | 6810.99 | 3.9% MFN | 3.9% + 25% + ~300% AD/CVD = ~328.9% | +USD 65,000 |
| Hardwood plywood | 4412.33 | 8% MFN | 8% + 25% Section 301 + ~195% AD/CVD = ~228% | +USD 44,000 |
Two things stand out. First, on the low-drama categories (fiber cement, sanitary ware) the Section 301 surcharge alone is enough to swing a decent project's material budget by five figures per container. Second, on high-drama categories where AD/CVD has already fired — quartz, plywood, aluminum extrusions, tile — the Chinese landed cost is often the reason the line was never going to happen anyway.
Vietnamese-origin containers face none of the China-only surcharges — just the MFN rate the US applies to almost every trading partner.
(These are indicative rates. Actual duty depends on the exact 8–10 digit HS classification, the goods' composition, and whether any Vietnam- specific measure is in force at the time of import. See the landed-cost estimator for a live calculation, and confirm with a licensed customs broker before committing.)
Outside the US, the picture is even simpler
For non-US markets, Vietnam does not need Section 301 to win the comparison — it has a preferential trade agreement with almost every major destination, and China (with narrow exceptions) does not.
| Destination | Vietnam scheme | Typical duty on Vietnam | Typical duty on China |
|---|---|---|---|
| European Union | EVFTA (2020) | 0% on almost every building-material line | 3–10% MFN |
| United Kingdom | UKVFTA (2021) | 0% on almost every building-material line | 3–10% MFN |
| Australia | AANZFTA + CPTPP | 0% on almost every line | 5% MFN |
| Canada | CPTPP | 0% on almost every line | 6–8% MFN |
| Japan | VJEPA + CPTPP | 0% on almost every line | 3–6% MFN |
| South Korea | VKFTA | 0% on almost every line | 8% MFN |
| ASEAN (Singapore, Malaysia, etc.) | ATIGA | 0% intra-bloc | 5–8% MFN |
The EVFTA is the biggest single one. Signed in 2020, it phases out roughly 99% of tariffs on Vietnamese goods entering the EU (most within 7 years, some 10). The UK signed a mirror agreement, UKVFTA, on the same terms. Together, that's roughly 700 million Western consumers who buy Vietnamese fiber cement, tiles or plywood at 0% duty — and Chinese equivalents at 5–10%.
What this means for a project owner
On US projects, the tariff structure alone means Vietnamese origin often pays for freight, quality control and a small margin of comfort — before anyone has compared factory-gate prices. For quartz, aluminum extrusions, plywood and tile it's not close.
On European and Commonwealth projects, EVFTA / UKVFTA / CPTPP mean the same product enters duty-free from Vietnam and at 5–10% duty from China. Once you factor in shorter lead times to Australia and Asia-Pacific destinations, and the reputational risk of Chinese-origin AD/CVD showing up mid-project, the case usually decides itself.
On any project, this only actually works if the paperwork is right. Preferential-tariff schemes require rules-of-origin documentation — a certificate of origin (Form EUR.1, Form E, Form AANZ, Form CPTPP…), a manufacturer's declaration, sometimes bills of materials for the inputs. Half the deals that go wrong at this stage go wrong because the Vietnamese supplier didn't provide the right form, so the destination customs officer applied MFN duty instead of the FTA rate.
That's the job of a sourcing desk. Every proposal we send includes the applicable FTA scheme, the rules-of-origin evidence your broker will need, and the certificate-of-origin request lodged at shipment. Try the live calculator with your own numbers, or send us your BOM and we'll return a full landed-cost picture alongside the proposal.