Lighting is one of the categories where the current tariff era can stack up, because decorative and household fixtures are often produced in a relatively concentrated set of overseas factories, and a base duty that was once minor may now sit underneath a heavier country-specific load. The category is also bulky and low-margin per unit, so freight and duty tend to move together, and even a few points of added duty can flip a fixture from profitable to underwater. Lighting SKUs are also easy to misclassify, and the wrong code can attach a meaningfully different rate to a product you have been selling for years.
Representative 2026 estimate stacking base MFN duty (USITC HTS 2026 Rev.10), Section 301 on China-origin goods (USTR), Section 232 on autos and steel/aluminum/copper articles (CRS IN12545), and the 10% Section 122 surcharge that expires 2026-07-24 and is under appeal (Skadden). Your exact per-SKU duty depends on the precise HS code, which MarginGuard resolves from the live HTS schedule once connected. Not legal or customs advice.
Cambodia is a long-standing low-cost manufacturing base whose exports to the US now carry a reciprocal-era tariff load on top of the normal HTS base duty set by each product's classification. That stacking matters for landed cost: the country-specific load can apply on top of the base rate across many categories, so the duty you pay may no longer be just the historic base rate for your goods, though the exact treatment still depends on your product's HS code. Cambodia has no comprehensive US free trade agreement, so there is no across-the-board duty preference to fall back on, and the representative stacked rate in the box above reflects the current-era treatment. Because rates in this era are set largely through policy action and have been adjusted on short timelines, the number can change between order cycles, so treat it as a snapshot rather than a fixed input.
Cambodia is a genuine China alternative for apparel and footwear and a common first stop when diversifying out of China, but it is not a duty-free escape hatch. It carries its own reciprocal-era load, so the right comparison is Cambodia's stacked rate against China's stacked rate for your specific HS codes, not Cambodia against a pre-tariff baseline. The catch is twofold: the country load is set at the national level, while the duty you actually pay still tracks each product's HS classification, and rules of origin decide whether goods count as Cambodian in the first place. If fabric, components, or major assembly trace back to China, transshipment and substantial-transformation scrutiny can negate the benefit, and any preferential program you hope to use depends on meeting its origin rules. Treat Cambodia as a way to reduce, not eliminate, tariff exposure, and validate the landed-cost delta per SKU before committing volume.
That's a single SKU. Across a full catalog the tariff hits every imported product differently depending on its cost and price — which is exactly why margin damage hides until a quarter closes light.
Paste your Shopify URL. In about ten seconds you'll see every SKU that dropped below your target margin after the current Cambodia tariffs — and the exact price to charge to recover each one. Free, no login.
Scan your store free →Landed cost = unit cost × (1 + tariff rate). To get back to a target margin M, the recovery price is landed cost ÷ (1 − M). For a $45 lamp from Cambodia at a 14% stacked rate, that means charging $41.04 to hold a 40% margin. Round to a clean price point and test it; the point is to stop selling underwater.
The core of lighting classification is HTS heading 9405, which covers luminaires and lighting fittings (lamps, ceiling and wall fixtures, string lights, and their parts) regardless of the light source. The base duty for many finished fixtures is relatively modest, but the rate that actually hits your landed cost tends to be driven by three attributes: the material of the fixture body (a brass or glass lamp may sit at a different subheading than a plastic one), whether the item is a complete fixture versus a part such as a shade or base, and the country of origin, which is what can pull in the heavier current-era load. Light sources themselves can fall outside the heading, which is one place rate surprises tend to come from. The exact per-SKU duty depends on the precise HS code, so two products that look identical on your storefront can carry different rates.
A common lighting pitfall is the LED line: an LED bulb or retrofit lamp is often classified outside the 9405 fixture heading (an electric lamp can fall under a different heading entirely), and an integrated LED module or driver may be pulled toward yet another heading. Merchants who file an entire lighting catalog under one 9405 code because everything ships as a 'lamp' can end up applying the wrong duty to their LED-source items, and because LED products are a growing share of many stores, that single misread can distort the margin on high-volume SKUs. When the bulb and the fixture ship together as one sellable unit, the classification can hinge on which component gives the article its essential character, so it is worth confirming the code per SKU rather than per category.
Lighting assembly is relatively mobile, which can make origin shifting more realistic here than in categories with concentrated raw-material supply, and some Southeast Asian countries already run fixture assembly lines that may change the country-specific load on your landed cost. The catch is that origin for duty purposes generally follows where substantial transformation happens, not where the box ships from, so moving final assembly while still importing the metalwork, glass, and electronics from a high-load origin may not move your rate the way you expect; that analysis is fact-specific. Before committing to a supplier change, price the same fixture against a few candidate origins and confirm the classification holds, since a heavy glass or metal fixture also carries freight cost that can erase a duty saving. This is general guidance, not a customs ruling, and the defensible answer for any specific SKU comes from its actual HS code and origin documentation.
Do string lights and seasonal fairy lights fall under the same heading as a table lamp?
Decorative lighting sets, including string and fairy lights, are generally captured within heading 9405 as lighting fittings, so they typically share the fixture base duty rather than a bulb rate. That said, battery-powered or novelty sets can fall under a different subheading depending on construction, and the country-specific load still applies on top. Confirm the exact code per product, because seasonal SKUs are often imported in bulk and a small rate difference can add up at volume.
Are replacement lampshades and fixture parts dutied differently from a complete lamp?
Parts of lighting fittings, such as standalone shades, bases, and arms, have their own provisions within the 9405 structure and can carry a different rate than the finished fixture they belong to. If you import components and assemble or kit them domestically, you may be classifying the parts rather than the complete lamp, which can change the duty and sometimes the country-of-origin analysis. It is worth treating parts SKUs as their own line in your costing rather than assuming they inherit the finished-fixture rate, and confirming the code per SKU.
My fixtures ship with the bulbs included. Does that change the tariff?
It can. When a fixture and its light source are imported together as one packaged article, classification may turn on which part gives the item its essential character, and an integrated-LED fixture can be treated differently than a traditional lamp sold with a separate replaceable bulb. Because the bulb side may pull in a code outside the 9405 fixture heading, a bundled product can land at a different rate than the bare fixture would. Check the combined article's code rather than assuming it follows the fixture alone.
Is sourcing from Cambodia cheaper than from China after tariffs?
Often, but not automatically. Cambodia carries its own reciprocal-era load on top of the base HTS duty, so the saving comes from the gap between Cambodia's stacked rate and China's stacked rate for your exact products, not from any duty-free status. Run the landed-cost math per HS code, since the answer can flip for some categories. This is general guidance, not customs advice.
Does Cambodia qualify for duty-free treatment into the US?
Do not assume so. Cambodia has no comprehensive US free trade agreement, and any preferential program is conditional on meeting its rules of origin, which depend on where materials and processing actually originate. Consider confirming eligibility for your specific goods with a customs broker before pricing a duty-free landed cost. This is general guidance, not customs advice.
Could goods I source from Cambodia be treated as Chinese for tariff purposes?
Possibly, if origin is not genuinely Cambodian. Customs generally looks at substantial transformation, and apparel and footwear typically have category-specific origin rules. If fabric or key components come from China and only light finishing happens in Cambodia, the goods may be treated as Chinese or flagged for transshipment, which can wipe out the intended saving. Keep supplier documentation that supports the country of origin you declare, and confirm the specifics with a customs broker. This is general guidance, not customs advice.
MarginGuard watches every imported SKU and alerts you the moment a tariff change pushes one below your target margin — with the exact recovery price.
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