Is the US still worth it for UK brands? The commercial case after tariffs

Why it’s still worth it
The tariff is a cost. It doesn’t change the size of the prize.

The US is still the largest consumer market most UK brands will ever sell into, with one language, one main currency and customers who already buy British. A 10% tariff applies to every non-US competitor too: UK goods face the same rate as goods from the EU, Canada and Mexico, so a UK brand hasn’t lost ground to its usual European rivals.

UK brands tend to win where heritage, quality or a clear point of view carries a price premium: fashion and accessories, beauty and grooming, food and drink with a story, homeware, and specialist B2B products. In those categories a 10% cost can often be priced in. Customers paying for the brand are less sensitive to a few pounds than customers comparing commodity listings.

There’s also a timing point. Some UK sellers paused their US business when the duty-free route closed. Our read is that a brand setting up properly now faces fewer UK rivals in its category than it did two years ago.

Who should hold off
The US isn’t right for everyone this year. We’d advise waiting if most of these are true:
• Your average order is under £30 and your gross margin is under 50%, so per-parcel costs eat most of the profit.
• You compete mainly on price against products US shoppers can buy from domestic sellers.
• You don’t yet have a clear reason why a US customer would choose you over a local brand.
• You can’t fund three to six months of stock held in the US or with a US fulfilment partner.
• Your UK business still has obvious growth left that would cost less to capture.
If that’s you, Europe or Australia may be the better next step, and the US can follow once the brand and the margins are stronger.

How to make the numbers work
The brands doing well in the US since 2025 have changed three things.
1. They ship stock in bulk rather than parcel by parcel. Sending stock to a US warehouse or fulfilment partner means one customs entry per shipment instead of one per order, duty paid on the wholesale import value, and two-day delivery for the customer instead of a week.
2. They price for the US rather than converting from the UK. A sterling price list at today’s exchange rate rarely fits. Set prices against US competitors and US price points, with tariff and fulfilment built in. Some brands find they were underpriced in the US even before tariffs.
3. They pick one main channel. A US-hosted Shopify store, Amazon US and a wholesale partner each have different costs and stock needs. Doing one well beats a thin presence on all three.

None of this is new advice. What’s changed is that the shortcut, shipping parcels from the UK duty-free, has closed, so the proper route is now the only one that pays.

Three questions to decide
Before committing budget to the US in 2027, answer these honestly:
1. After a 10% tariff, US fulfilment and a US-set price, does each order still make a margin you’d accept in the UK?
2. Can you say in one sentence why a US customer should buy from you rather than a local brand?
3. Can you fund the first six months of stock and marketing without the US paying for itself yet?

Three yeses, and the US is likely still your best growth market. One or two, and it’s worth fixing those gaps first. None, and another market will probably pay back sooner.

If you’d like a second pair of eyes on the numbers, our Market Entry Strategy work starts with this test: a landed-cost model, a pricing check against US competitors, and a recommendation on channel. Get in touch and we’ll tell you straight whether the US is worth it for your brand.

Tariff and customs rules were checked on 30 October 2026 and change often. Check the current position before you act.