US tariffs on imports from Peru in 2026: what a stuffed animal from Lima costs to land

The notice reads: "The Trade Representative has determined to impose 12.5 percent tariffs on products of Peru." It is one of 60 actions taken the same day against economies that, in the US Trade Representative's finding, do not ban imports made with forced labor. Nothing in it exempts toys, fur or heading 9503.

The trade agreement still applies, but it only removes the ordinary duty, which for toys is zero anyway. The 12.5% is charged on top of it.

The note in Chapter 99 of the tariff that carries the new duty says that goods eligible for trade agreement treatment remain subject to it. That is how the four changes of the last eighteen months worked as well:

• April 2025: a 10% "reciprocal" tariff on goods from Peru, under the emergency powers law IEEPA.
• 20 February 2026: the Supreme Court decided in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA does not allow tariffs, and the 10% was ended the same day.
• 24 February to 24 July 2026: a temporary 10% surcharge on imports under Section 122 of the Trade Act took its place.
• From 24 July 2026: the 12.5% Section 301 tariff on products of Peru.

For a toy there is little point in claiming the agreement's preference (the "PE" prefix on the tariff number): the general rate is already free, and on a parcel by post the claim itself is one of the things that makes a formal entry necessary, as the next sections show.

The merchandise processing fee is not charged on goods imported by mail (19 CFR 24.23), except on EMS items that are entered formally. On a formal entry it is 0.3464% of the value with a minimum of $34.58 and a maximum of $670.86, the figures for the year that started on 1 October 2026; on both orders the minimum applies. Sea freight adds a harbor maintenance fee of 0.125%. A customs broker's fee and bond come on top of all of this, are not government charges, and differ by broker.

Sales tax is your state's business and is left out. So is the freight, which comes with the quotation.

No. The $800 de minimis exemption has been suspended for every country since 29 August 2025, so a parcel of toys pays the 12.5% whatever it is worth.

CBP made the suspension indefinite for mail from 24 July 2026, and a law of 2025 ends de minimis altogether on 1 July 2027. Duty on a postal parcel is now collected through a postal informal entry, filed by the owner, the buyer or a licensed customs broker, and not collected from the addressee at the door.

From 22 October 2026, a mail shipment that owes a Chapter 99 duty, which the 12.5% is, needs a formal entry (19 CFR 145.12). So does a shipment that falls under another agency's rules, which a toy does through the CPSC, and one that claims a trade agreement. The alternative CBP offers is a voluntary test of a new electronic informal entry for mail, entry type 13, open to owners, purchasers and their brokers for parcels of $2,500 or less. In practice: from that date, a US order of toys by post needs a customs broker or a filer in the entry type 13 test, before it arrives.

The children's product certificate has never had a value floor either: "There is no Section 321 (also known as de minimis) shipment exemption for eFiling," in the CPSC's words. What the certificate needs is in our post on the CPC.

9503.00.00, the heading for toys, even though it is made of real fur. The last two digits depend on the age it is labelled for.

• 9503.00.00.71 for a children's product labelled for under 3 years.
• 9503.00.00.73 for a children's product labelled for 3 to 12 years.
• 9503.00.00.90 for a product that is not a children's product.

The fur does not move it to Chapter 43, the chapter for furskin: note 2 to that chapter says it does not cover "articles of chapter 95 (for example, toys, games, sports equipment)." A rug is different. It is an article of furskin under heading 4303, which is also free of ordinary duty and pays the same 12.5%. The general rules for the code in every market are in our guide to importing from Peru.

It might. Two things could lower it, and neither has happened yet.

• The courts. The Section 301 tariffs are challenged at the Court of International Trade by small businesses and 25 states. The case was argued on 30 September 2026 and no decision had been published on 7 October.
• Peru itself. The notice sets a lower rate of 10% for an economy that commits to banning imports made with forced labor. Peru had not done so by 7 October.

We read this page against the Federal Register every quarter and whenever the rate changes, and the date at the top says when it was last done.