Trimtabist

The US Trade Ledger — every US container gateway, every partner country, every month — and what each one actually paid at the border.

The tariff on optical, medical & precision instruments

HS chapter 90, all origins, from official duty receipts. Burden 0.4% in 2017-06 → peak 10.9% in 2025-10 → 6.4% in 2026-06, on $690M of duty in the latest month.

Duty collected as % of all optical, medical & precision instruments import value, monthly, all origins. Peak 10.9% (2025-10).

Duty dollars collected on the chapter, monthly. Excludes AD/CVD and fees; assessed at entry.

Who pays it — top origins, 2026-06

China 19.2% paid $162M duty Germany 8.8% paid $96M duty Japan 9.8% paid $56M duty Mexico 1.3% paid $28M duty United Kingdom 7.9% paid $27M duty

Malaysia 6.7% paid $23M duty

Costa Rica 3.1% paid $22M duty

Italy 10.3% paid $21M duty

Switzerland 5.5% paid $21M duty

Taiwan 9.7% paid $19M duty

Go deeper

the whole tariff story · any origin: tariff_burden(origin: "Vietnam", commodity: "90") · any code: tariff_lookup(hs, origin) via /connect. Not customs or legal advice.

In print: “The tariff on optical, medical & precision instruments” — Trimtab US Trade Ledger (TT-010 Duty receipts), US Census imports-for-consumption records — trimtabist.com/tariff-on-optical-medical-precision-instruments