🇺🇸 US tariff on Korean goods set at 12.5%: what changed in the calculator

Published 2026-07-24 · 2 min read

What happened

From 12:01 a.m. US Eastern time on July 24, 2026, the US applied a new 10–12.5% "forced labor" tariff to 60 economies, Korea among them. It replaces the 10% global baseline tariff under Section 122, which hit its 150-day limit. In other words, the 10% went away and 12.5% took its place.

Korea was placed in the 12.5% tier as one of the economies judged to have forced-labor rules on paper but weak enforcement (alongside Canada, Ecuador, the EU, Indonesia and Pakistan). For Korean goods, the forced-labor tariff tops the product's normal (MFN) rate up to 12.5% in total; if the MFN rate is already 12.5% or higher, nothing extra is added. Goods already in transit had until July 28.

What about the 15% cap?

Last year (2025) Korea negotiated its tariff down from 25% to 15% in exchange for a $350 billion US investment package. If the new 12.5% stacks with other measures, such as a pending "overcapacity" tariff, and the total goes over 15%, Korea would end up worse off than under that deal. Seoul is now pressing Washington to keep the all-in rate at or below 15%.

So it isn't settled whether 12.5% is the final number. We've set the calculator to the 12.5% that is legally in force today and will update it if that changes.

Checking it in the calculator

• In the calculator, choose a US marketplace such as Amazon US and the duty field fills in with 12.5%.
• Goods with a Korean certificate of origin still get the full 12.5%. The KORUS FTA exists, but this forced-labor and reciprocal tariff regime takes priority right now.
• On the free bulk calculator you can upload many products at once and recalculate margins at the new rate.

⚠️ Researched as of July 24, 2026. US tariff policy keeps moving, so confirm with a customs broker or US CBP guidance before you ship.