- Your packed volume is under about 15 m³.
- You can accept the deconsolidation queue at the destination, which on US West Coast terminals has run long through 2026 peak season.
- Nothing in the order is stone, glass or a single heavy slab.
- You understand that the duty stack is charged on the goods either way — LCL saves freight, not tariff.
Destination guide · United States
Shipping Furniture From China to the United States
Furniture shipped from Foshan reaches Los Angeles or Long Beach in 15–20 days port to port — the fastest ocean route from China to any of our destinations. The freight is no longer the problem. The tariff stack is: a base rate of 0–6% by heading, 25% Section 301 on Chinese furniture since 2018, and Section 232 wood-product duties of 30% on upholstered wooden furniture and 50% on kitchen cabinets and vanities since 1 January 2026. Anti-dumping duties on Chinese wooden bedroom furniture can sit on top again. Source Foshan, a sourcing agent based in Foshan, China, prices the stack line by line before you pay a deposit, because on this route it is larger than the goods margin.
Page reviewed by the Source Foshan sourcing team in Foshan · freight and duty figures are dated and sourced at the foot of the page.
At a glance
Five numbers to carry into the first conversation.
15–20 daysShenzhen to Los Angeles or Long Beach, port to port
USD 7,18540 ft to the US West Coast, early September 2026 — our dearest lane
25% + 30%Section 301 plus Section 232 on upholstered wooden furniture
50%Section 232 on kitchen cabinets and vanities since 1 January 2026
No import VATThe United States charges no federal import VAT or GST
Before it sails
What leaves Foshan, whatever the destination.
The same three steps stand behind every container we send to United States. These are our own warehouse photographs, not stock images.
01 · The one decision
A full container or an LCL consignment?
On the US lane the container decision is the easy part. The hard part is the tariff heading, because two goods that look identical on a showroom floor can differ by twenty-five points of duty.
- Your packed volume passes about 15 m³; a 20 ft loads 28–33 m³ of crated furniture.
- You are furnishing a whole house: 45–70 m³, which is a 40 ft high-cube.
- You want the container sealed in Foshan and opened at your address, with one customs entry rather than a shared one.
- Rail dwell matters to you: a container moves on a chassis when you want it to, a deconsolidated LCL consignment moves when the warehouse gets to it.
LCL territory
under 15 m³
One 20 ft container
30 m³ loaded
One 40 ft high-cube
68 m³ loaded
A three-seat sofa carton is 1.6–2.2 m³; four stacked dining chairs 0.6–0.9 m³; a knock-down wardrobe 0.5–0.8 m³. Send the list and we return the packed volume per line.
Rail container dwell at Los Angeles and Long Beach reached a 2026 high of about 6.75 days in August. Where the delivery address is inland, that queue is worth pricing in alongside the ocean leg.
02
What does it cost to ship furniture to United States?
Every line that appears between the ex-works price and the furniture standing in the room. Ranges, not promises.
- Goods, ex-works Foshan USD 32,000
- Export packing and consolidationAbout USD 30 per m³ USD 1,950
- Ocean freight, 40 ft HCMid-point of the September 2026 band USD 7,185
- Marine insuranceAbout 0.5% of goods plus freight USD 196
- Customs dutyModelled at a 50% blended stack: 25% Section 301 plus Section 232 by heading USD 16,000
- Import VAT or GSTNone — the United States charges no federal import consumption tax nil
- Delivery, unload and assemblyIndicative; access decides it USD 1,500
One basket, priced into all eleven destinations, so the bars are comparable. The duty and tax block is what actually changes — as a share of the goods value, United States at 50.0%, against 9.2% into Singapore and 41.3% into South Africa.
| Line | Indicative | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean freight, 40 ft HC | About USD 7,185 | Shanghai–Los Angeles, early September 2026, up about 5% month on month |
| Ocean freight, 20 ft | USD 3,600–4,400 | Roughly half the 40 ft, which is unusually close on this lane |
| LCL ocean freight | USD 55–90 per m³ | Before destination charges and the deconsolidation queue |
| Export packing and consolidation | About USD 30 per m³ | Re-crating, bracing, labelling, packing list |
| Marine insurance | About 0.5% of insured value | On goods plus freight |
| Base customs duty | 0–6% by heading | Metal furniture often 0%; wooden 9403.50/.60 typically 0–2.5%; seats 9401 up to 6% |
| Section 301 | 25% | List 3, on Chinese-origin furniture since September 2018 |
| Section 232, wood products | 30% upholstered wooden · 50% cabinets and vanities | Effective 14 October 2025, stepped up on 1 January 2026 |
| Anti-dumping duty | Case by case | Wooden bedroom furniture and cabinets from China carry AD/CVD orders; rates are exporter-specific |
| Import VAT or GST | None | The United States charges no federal import consumption tax; state use tax may apply to you separately |
| Customs broker, ISF, bond | USD 400–900 per entry | Single-entry bond unless you hold an annual one |
| Delivery, unload and assembly | Quoted per address | Drayage, chassis and dwell charges vary more than the road distance does |
Indicative landed cost, Foshan to a US West Coast address, September 2026. Freight is a spot market and the tariff stack changes by proclamation — confirm both at booking.
03 · Use this on us too
The fourteen lines a door-to-door quotation has to show.
Nearly every bad shipping story on this route starts with a quotation that was shorter than this list. Paste it into your next enquiry and ask for a price against each line. A forwarder who will not break the price out is quoting you a number, not a service.
- Inland move, factory to warehousePer supplier, or stated as waived. Buyers are caught by this line more than any other.
- Warehouse receipt and check-inCounted against the packing list, photographed, with the free storage days and the daily rate afterwards.
- Re-packing and cratingWhich items get closed crates, which get open frames, which stay in cartons — and the price for each.
- Timber treatment and the IPPC markTreatment, marking and the certificate, priced separately from the crate.
- Measured packed volume, line by lineThe m³ you are billed for, with the measurements it came from.
- Export declaration and certificate of originIncluding who files it and what it costs if the certificate is issued late.
- Ocean freight, with the surcharges namedBase rate plus each surcharge spelled out, and how long the rate is held.
- Marine insuranceThe premium, the deductible, and what the fragile-goods exclusion actually excludes.
- Destination terminal and deconsolidationTerminal handling, deconsolidation, and the free days before storage starts.
- Customs entryWho is importer of record, what value is declared, and whether duty and tax are inside the price or outside it.
- DeliveryVehicle size, kerbside or room of choice, stairs and lifts, waiting time, and the radius the price covers.
- Assembly and packaging removalBoth, or neither, but in writing. A container leaves roughly a tonne of crate and carton behind.
- Bond, ISF and broker feesContinuous or single-entry bond, the ISF filing, and the broker's own fee.
- Anti-dumping exposureWhether any line sits on a wooden-bedroom-furniture order, checked against the tariff line before booking.
Send us the same list. We answer it line by line, in writing, before you pay anything.
04
How long does it take, week by week?
From the deposit to the last crate leaving your drive. The sea leg is the part nobody can compress.
- Foshan Consolidation warehouse, all suppliers
- Yantian / Nansha Load port; ISF filed 24 h before loading day 0
- Pacific crossing Direct, no transhipment on most strings day 5
- Los Angeles / Long Beach Arrival, customs entry, drayage day 17
- East Coast via Panama New York, Savannah, Houston day 31
The fastest sea leg from China to any destination we serve. What lengthens a US delivery is rarely the ocean: it is the customs entry on a Chinese-origin shipment and the chassis and rail queue at the terminal, which hit a 2026 high of about 6.75 days of rail dwell in August.
- Week 0Collected and coded
Pieces from each factory collected at one Foshan warehouse and re-crated. The commodity headings are agreed with your broker at this point, because on this route the heading decides more of the price than the factory does.
- Week 6–10Inspection, ISF and loading
Every item photographed against the spec; the balance falls due after you approve the report. The Importer Security Filing goes in 24 hours before the box is loaded.
- Week 10–13At sea
15–20 days to Los Angeles or Long Beach; 28–35 days to the East Coast via Panama. ISF filed 24 hours before loading.
- Week 13–14Customs entry
Entry lodged, the duty stack paid. Chinese-origin goods draw more inspection attention than most, so build a week of slack into a dated project.
- Week 14–16Drayage and delivery
Chassis booked, container delivered to the address, crates opened, pieces carried in and assembled, packaging taken away.
05
Duty, tax and clearance into United States
The United States is the fastest route from Foshan and, since January 2026, the most expensive to clear. Getting the heading right is worth more than any freight negotiation.
Chinese furniture has carried a 25% Section 301 duty under List 3 since September 2018. It applies on top of the ordinary rate, and exclusions for furniture have not been restored.
Wood-product duties took effect on 14 October 2025 and stepped up on 1 January 2026: 30% on upholstered wooden furniture, 50% on kitchen cabinets and vanities. The UK, EU and Japan negotiated caps; China did not, so Chinese-origin goods pay the full rate.
AD/CVD orders on Chinese wooden bedroom furniture and wooden cabinets remain in force and are charged in addition to Section 232. Rates are exporter-specific, so the factory you choose changes the duty you pay — which is a sourcing decision, not a freight one.
There is no federal import VAT. You will need an importer of record, a customs bond, and an Importer Security Filing lodged 24 hours before the container is loaded in China. We supply the data for the ISF on time because a late filing is a fine, not a delay.
06
Clearance is not delivery. What happens at the door.
American addresses are the ones where the last hundred metres most often goes wrong, because a 40 ft chassis needs room that a suburban street rarely has.
On our Orange County delivery it could, and the container was worked at the house. Where it cannot, the box is stripped at a warehouse and reloaded onto a box truck, which is a cost we quote up front rather than discover.
Port charges accrue by the day once free time ends. A booked delivery slot is cheaper than a flexible one.
Crates are opened outside, pieces carried in, beds and tables assembled and positioned by room against the packing list.
Timber, cardboard and wrap leave with the crew the same day. On a 40 ft that is a truckload in itself.
07 · What arrival looks like
Photographs from the research file.
Other people’s shipments, not ours. In September 2026 we read 20 first-hand Chinese-language shipping notes and their comment threads from buyers who moved furniture from China to the United States, and cleared their photographs for publication. They show what the process actually looks like at the kerb and in the room. Our own delivery photographs are further down, under case notes.
Published with the rights holder’s permission. Faces, house numbers, vehicle plates and third-party company marks have been cropped or redacted; nothing else in these frames has been altered.
08 · Field notes
What goes wrong, in the words of people who have already done it
Compiled in September 2026 from 20 first-hand Chinese-language shipping notes on the China–the United States route and their comment threads, cross-read against our own files. Poster experience, forwarder marketing and our practice are kept apart: the left column is what buyers reported happening, the right column is what we do about it. Every rate, duty and border rule stays with the authorities listed at the foot of this page.
-
The trap
A cheap per-m³ number that grows once the list arrives.
What we doSend the item list first and take an itemised quotation against it. Buyers report the factory-to-warehouse leg alone arriving as an unbudgeted four-figure line.
-
The trap
“Delivered to the door” that means the kerb.
What we doAgree in writing who carries in, who assembles and who takes the packaging away. One buyer paid USD 435 in labour and tip fees to clear the crates from a single whole-home delivery.
-
The trap
“Duty paid” clearance that cannot survive re-assessment.
What we doAsk who the importer of record is and what value is being declared. Wooden bedroom furniture carries anti-dumping exposure that a flat per-kilo price cannot absorb — check the line with a licensed broker before booking.
-
The trap
Parcel channels priced on volumetric weight.
What we doFurniture belongs on per-m³ ocean freight. A 10 kg item billed at 20 kg volumetric is a rounding error; a sofa billed that way is not.
-
The trap
Vague goods descriptions on the invoice.
What we doDescribe the material, not the category — “oak frame, linen cover” rather than “solid wood sofa”. Thin descriptions are the most common reason a furniture entry gets queried.
-
The trap
Production slipping quietly behind the sailing schedule.
What we doColour approval and progress photographs are milestones, not courtesies. One buyer's whole-home order took six months from order to room.
09 · The honest version
When importing to the US stops making sense
Since January 2026 the honest answer on some headings is: do not. The Section 232 step-up changed which lists are worth shipping, and we would rather say so than take the order.
- Kitchen cabinets and vanities. A 50% Section 232 duty on top of 25% Section 301 closes the gap against US-made or Vietnamese product on almost any specification. We will quote it, but we will also tell you it rarely wins.
- Entry-level upholstered wooden furniture. At 30% plus 25%, a mid-market sofa lands close to domestic wholesale. The maths only works at the custom and high-specification end, where the ex-works gap is 50–60% rather than 25%.
- Anything under about 15 m³ that is not custom. Ocean freight to the US West Coast is our dearest lane at about USD 7,185 for a 40 ft; on a small LCL consignment the fixed costs and the duty stack together leave nothing.
- Wooden bedroom furniture from an untested factory. AD/CVD rates are exporter-specific. The wrong factory can add a rate that makes the order unshippable, and you will not discover it at the quotation stage unless someone checks.
Metal-framed, stone, rattan and non-wooden goods sit outside the Section 232 layer and still land well. Send the list and we will tell you which side of the line each item falls on — see the HS code guide for why the heading decides it.
FAQ
Shipping furniture to United States, answered.
How much is the import duty on furniture from China to the USA in 2026?
Three layers stack. The ordinary rate is 0–6% depending on the heading. Section 301 adds 25% on Chinese-origin furniture and has been in force since September 2018. Section 232 wood-product duties add 30% on upholstered wooden furniture and 50% on kitchen cabinets and vanities, effective 14 October 2025 and stepped up on 1 January 2026. Anti-dumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture and cabinets can apply again on top, at exporter-specific rates. Confirm the exact stack for your headings with a licensed customs broker before you pay a deposit — on this route the duty can exceed the freight several times over.
How long does furniture take from China to the USA?
Fifteen to twenty days port to port from Shenzhen to Los Angeles or Long Beach, which is the fastest ocean route from China to any destination we ship to. East Coast ports via Panama run twenty-eight to thirty-five days. Add two to four weeks of production and consolidation before the sailing, plus customs entry and drayage at the other end. Door to door, a typical order runs thirteen to sixteen weeks from deposit.
Is it still worth importing furniture from China to the US?
It depends entirely on the heading. Metal-framed and non-wooden goods escape the Section 232 layer and can still land well below comparable US retail. Upholstered wooden furniture and especially kitchen cabinets carry a stack that closes most of the gap. We will tell you which side of that line your list falls on before you commit, and we say so when the answer is no.
Do I pay VAT or sales tax when importing furniture into the US?
There is no federal import VAT or GST in the United States, which is unusual among the destinations we ship to. Your state may charge use tax on goods you import for your own use, and that is a matter between you and your state, not the border. What you do need is an importer of record, a customs bond and an Importer Security Filing lodged twenty-four hours before loading.
Can you deliver a full container to a residential address in the US?
Often yes. On our Orange County delivery the 40 ft container was worked at the house and every room was furnished the same day. Where a chassis cannot reach the address — narrow streets, low branches, HOA restrictions — the container is stripped at a warehouse and the goods reloaded onto a box truck. We establish which it is before the ship sails, because it changes the quotation.
Is the freight quoted in dollars or renminbi, and is duty inside it?
We quote in USD, door to door, with duty and merchandise processing shown as their own lines so you can see whether they are in or out. A per-container or per-kilo headline with no currency and no duty position is the single most common complaint buyers raise about this route, and it is usually the sign of an informal clearance arrangement. Ask who the importer of record is before you pay a deposit.
Does wooden bedroom furniture from China carry anti-dumping duty?
Some of it does, and it is the largest single risk on the US lane. Wooden bedroom furniture from China has been subject to an anti-dumping order for years, the rate depends on the producer, and it sits on top of the ordinary tariff. We check every bedroom line against the tariff classification and the producer before you commit, and a licensed customs broker confirms it at entry — CBP is the authority, not us and not the factory.
Who carries it into the house, and who takes the crates away?
Both are separate line items and neither is automatic. A standard door delivery in the US means kerbside: the driver is not obliged to cross your threshold. Buyers report paying several hundred dollars in labour and tip fees to clear the packaging from one whole-home delivery. We quote carry-in, assembly and packaging removal as named lines so there is nothing to discover on the day.
Send your list and your United States address
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Sources & further reading
Where these figures come from.
- US Tariff Rates — furniture from China — Base MFN rates by heading and the Section 301 overlay
- Clark Hill — US expands Section 232 tariffs to wood products — Section 232 scope, rates and the 14 October 2025 and 1 January 2026 dates
- Home Furnishings Association — Section 232 furniture tariffs — Rate steps for upholstered furniture, cabinets and vanities, and the country caps
- Suaid Global — ocean freight rates 2026 — Trans-Pacific 40 ft rate level, September 2026
Ocean freight is a spot market and moves monthly; duty and tax rules change without notice. Treat every figure here as a starting point and confirm it at booking with your broker.