Staples in strips, of base metal

US trade by year

US imports were $91.9M in the 12 months to Aug 2026, down 6.1% on the 12 months to Aug 2017. US exports were $14.7M, down 45%. Dotted lines mark lasting changes in duty paid, labelled with the supplier, or "Duty" when several moved; the tariff timeline lists each one with its notices.

• China
• Korea, South
• Malaysia
• Thailand
• All countries

Who supplies the US

August 2026. Small figures under each value are the change from August 2025. Landed cost by origin, below, adds freight and duty to the price.

The 3 largest suppliers had 42.8% of US imports over the last 12 months.

Landed cost by origin

What importers paid to land this product at a US port from each main supplier, June–August 2026: the price, freight and insurance to the first US port, and duty, per unit. Suppliers with 3% or more of these imports, cheapest landed first. Small figures under landed cost are the change from the same months a year earlier.

• Price
• Freight and insurance
• Duty

Landed at a US port, Taiwan was cheapest, at $1.67/kg: 2.9% below Cambodia.

Cambodia had the lowest price before freight and duty, $1.10/kg, but they added 55.7% to it.

Landed cost from Malaysia rose 61% on a year earlier, to $3.11/kg, mostly on price: $1.55/kg then, $2.34/kg now.

How the market is shifting

Thailand gained the most share: 9.9% of US imports over the last 12 months, up from 5.1% in the 12 months before. Korea, South lost the most: 13.0%, down from 17.5%. The charts show September 2024 to August 2026 for the 4 largest suppliers over the last 12 months. Dotted lines mark lasting changes in duty paid, labelled with the supplier, or "Duty" when several moved; the tariff timeline lists each one with its notices.

• China
• Korea, South
• Malaysia
• Thailand
• All countries

Tariff actions touching this product

When the duty paid on this product changed and stayed changed, for its main suppliers and all countries, newest first, with the Federal Register notices that named the product in the 3 months before. Rates are medians of the 4 months either side, less any usual seasonal swing. A change shows what happened to duty paid, not why; read each notice for what it did.

1. March–May 2026 · Duty paid: China 48.0% → 32.1%, Korea, South 40.7% → 27.3%, Malaysia 37.4% → 25.0%, Taiwan 40.3% → 24.2%, Oman 47.0% → 25.8%, all countries 41.8% → 26.4%.
   • Collated Steel Staples From the People's Republic of China: Continuation of Antidumping Duty Order and Countervailing Duty OrderFeb 6, 2026 · International Trade Administration
2. August–September 2025 · Duty paid: China 39.5% → 57.7%, Korea, South 8.3% → 41.3%, Malaysia 7.1% → 33.1%, Taiwan 9.0% → 40.9%, Oman 5.3% → 47.9%, all countries 14.1% → 42.8%.
   • Adoption and Procedures of the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariff Inclusions ProcessAug 19, 2025 · Bureau of Industry and Security
3. March–April 2025 · Duty paid: China 7.5% → 37.6%, Korea, South 0.0% → 8.3%, all countries 1.9% → 9.8%.
4. March 2020 · Duty paid: China 14.7% → 7.4%.
   • Collated Steel Staples From China; Scheduling of the Final Phase of Countervailing Duty and Anti-Dumping Duty InvestigationsJan 21, 2020 · International Trade Commission
   • Certain Collated Steel Staples From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional MeasuresJan 8, 2020 · International Trade Administration
5. September 2019 · Duty paid: China 0.0% → 14.8%, all countries 0.0% → 7.4%.
   • Certain Collated Steel Staples From China, Korea, and Taiwan; DeterminationsJul 25, 2019 · International Trade Commission
   • Certain Collated Steel Staples From the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value InvestigationsJul 3, 2019 · International Trade Administration
   • Certain Collated Steel Staples From the People's Republic of China: Initiation of Countervailing Duty InvestigationJul 3, 2019 · International Trade Administration

Federal Register notices from the last 12 months that list this product's tariff codes. A notice can add a duty, exclude products from one or only mention them, so read each for what it changes. Search the Federal Register for 8305.20

• Collated Steel Staples From the People's Republic of China: Continuation of Antidumping Duty Order and Countervailing Duty OrderFeb 6, 2026 · International Trade Administration

Markets abroad

Each country's own import figures for this product, from UN Comtrade: the 8 biggest importers outside the US in the latest year each has reported, what they bought from the US, and the change from the year before. Values usually include freight and insurance to the importer's border, so they run a little above US export figures. Countries report a year or more late; 123 have reported 2025 so far. Where a country's figure for imports from the US is under half or over double what the US recorded exporting there that year, the US figure is shown under it.

The biggest market outside the US is Germany, which imported $24.8M of this product in 2025, 0.3% of that from the US.

Of these, imports into the Netherlands grew fastest: up 36% from 2024 to 2025.

Related products

Other products under heading 8305: fittings for loose leaf binders or files, paper clips etc. and parts thereof, of base metal; staples in strips (office, upholstery etc.) of base metal. US trade over the 12 months to August 2026.