Who pays the duty when a tariff changes mid-order?
The Incoterm and the contract decide it, not custom or goodwill. Under DDP the seller carries the import duty; under most other terms the buyer does. Read the agreement before the negotiation, because some contracts contain change-in-law or duty-adjustment clauses and many do not.
Written by Raja Torain. Published 2026-08-21, last reviewed 2026-08-24.
Read the contract before the negotiation. Some agreements contain change-in-law or duty-adjustment clauses that reallocate the cost; many do not, in which case whoever is importer of record absorbs it.
Importer of record status carries the compliance liability as well as the cost. Do not accept it casually to close a deal.
What I Check First
- 1.What Incoterm governs each open order, in writing?
- 2.Who is importer of record on the entry?
- 3.Is there a change-in-law or duty-adjustment clause?
In practice
Mid-order tariff changes get argued as fairness and settled by the Incoterm already on the purchase order. Read the term before the negotiation, not after it.
One decision like this in your inbox, every other week. No pitch.
One shipping or trade decision, worked through the way it happens in operations — what to check, what it costs to get wrong, what to do next. Roughly twice a month. Nothing else is sent to this address.
By submitting you're subscribing to the Logistics Decision Brief only. Your address is stored privately, never sold or shared, and you can stop it any time by replying. See the privacy notice.
Cargo stuck, quoted wrong, or about to be? Send me the cargo, the location and the deadline