Yes, each country sets its own duty or tariff rates for imported products. Duties vary by product, while sales taxes are usually the same percentage regardless of the nature of the product. 

Low Duties into USA: The U.S. is mostly alone in the world in not assessing a national sales tax on imported goods. Its duties are also generally among the lowest in the world, making it a very attractive market. 

Normal Procedure for Buyers: Your buyers will often ask for price quotes that include duties, taxes and other fees applied by the importing country. Your freight forwarder can help with this information as can WebPort Global. 

E-Commerce Best Practice: If you are engaged in e-commerce, a good business practice is to inform customers seeking to buy products on your site that they will be responsible for applicable duties, taxes and fees, which can exceed 25 percent of the purchase price. 

VAT in the E.U.: The average VAT in the European Union is about 20 percent, not including duties.

No Duty in Certain Cases:

• Certain types of commodities such as information technology are largely duty-free or have very low duties in most countries. 
• The U.S., Canada, members of the European Community and other countries have free trade agreements with trading partners in which products containing certain amounts of local content are imported duty-free. 
• Products imported from one country entering a foreign trade zone or otherwise awaiting shipment in a second country to third country may also escape duties in the second country. 
• If duties are assessed by the second country, they can be “drawn back,” by the owner of the goods after providing evidence of the transshipment to customs authorities.

Duties & Taxes reducing Globally: In general, duties and taxes worldwide have been reduced during the past 20 years as part of an international effort to increase trade and stimulate economic growth. But existing fees can still add substantial cost to the final consumer.