How to Buy From the US: A Step-by-Step Guide for Importers
Buying from the US is a sequence: vet the supplier, classify, prove origin, pick the Incoterm, and price the total. "US company" isn't "US origin."
The United States was the world's second-largest goods exporter in 2025, with about $2.18 trillion in merchandise exports. For an international buyer, the hard part is not finding an American supplier. It is building a transaction that holds up, from vetting to classification, origin, documentation, payment, and final landed cost.
American supply is deep and high-value, nowhere more so than in machinery, the country's second-largest export category at roughly $283.6 billion in 2025. But a good purchase is a sequence, not a single decision, and most of the cost and risk hides in the steps buyers skip. Here is the full process, with industrial machinery as the running example because it carries the most moving parts.
- Find and vet the supplier
Start with the supplier, not the price. The US Commercial Service's BuyUSA platform helps international buyers identify US products, services, and partners, including through matchmaking and trade events. But finding a supplier is only the beginning. Before any money moves, verify the legal business name, the state registration, a real physical and commercial presence, the corporate website and domain, business references, product certifications where applicable, export experience, the payment instructions, and, critically, that the bank-account ownership matches the contracting entity. That last check is what stops payment-diversion fraud, the most common way a first-time buyer loses money.
Hold onto one distinction. A US company registration proves an entity exists. It does not prove the company is financially sound, reputable, or authorized to sell a particular product. The goal is simple: know exactly who is selling to you before you decide how far to trust them.
- Classify the product before you negotiate the final price
Do not wait until the goods are ready to ship to work out the tariff classification. The Harmonized System code drives your customs duty, your trade-agreement eligibility, any restrictions or quotas, product-specific regulatory requirements, the documentation, and ultimately the total landed cost. Most machinery falls somewhere in HS Chapter 84, but not every machine belongs there; classification depends on the product's function, design, operation, and the specific tariff provisions that apply. Identify the likely code before you commit, because a price that looks attractive at the factory changes once freight, insurance, duties, taxes, brokerage, compliance, and inland transport are added.
- Determine origin, and check whether a trade preference applies
This is the most misunderstood point in the whole process, and it goes to the heart of buying "American." Buying from a US company does not automatically mean you are buying US-origin goods. A US distributor may sell product manufactured elsewhere, and a good exported from the United States is not necessarily of US origin.
That matters because a trade preference only applies to goods that actually originate in the qualifying country and are documented as such. Under the US-Korea agreement, KORUS, most Korean and US industrial and consumer goods enter duty-free, but only when the goods are wholly obtained or meet the specific rule of origin and are certified as originating. KORUS uses a knowledge-based certification, so a producer, exporter, importer, or broker can certify origin, and no special certificate is needed unless the customs authority requests it, but the claimant must be able to prove the claim. The same logic governs the EU's 2026 arrangement, which takes most US-origin industrial goods duty-free but requires origin proof and direct-transport evidence. The preference is worth real money. It is never automatic, and it is never established by the seller's address alone.
- Choose the Incoterm on purpose
The three-letter term decides who is the importer of record, who pays the US-side export costs and your own import duties, and where risk transfers. For most cross-border machinery buys, FOB or EXW keeps you in control of freight and clears cleanly, while DDP shifts everything to the seller but is operationally heavy and usually more expensive. Pick the term by what you want to control and who is best placed to bear each cost, not as an afterthought for the freight forwarder.
- Line up the documents and the export filing
A clean machinery import runs on a consistent paper trail: a commercial invoice with a detailed machine description, a packing list, the bill of lading, the certificate or certification of origin where a preference applies, and any agency-specific paperwork your product triggers, such as a US EPA or FCC form for certain engines or RF-emitting equipment. On the US side, the seller files Electronic Export Information through the Automated Export System for any shipment over $2,500 per Schedule B number, which covers virtually all heavy machinery, and used self-propelled equipment requires that filing 72 hours before export. Your documents, the seller's, and the entry should all tell one coherent story.
- Pay with the right instrument
US payment and trade-finance infrastructure is deep and fast once you have a US banking relationship. For a first deal with a new supplier, a letter of credit protects both sides; for an established one, open-account or wire terms move faster. Tie payment, inspection, and delivery to milestones in the contract so money and goods move against performance, not trust alone, and confirm the payment instructions against the verified entity from Step 1.
- Decide on the total landed cost, not the sticker
The number that matters is the all-in landed cost: product price, freight, insurance, your country's duties and taxes, inland transport, and the inventory you carry for the transit time. American goods often win on this full calculation even when the unit price is not the lowest, because proximity to much of the hemisphere means shorter, more predictable transit, and the quality and standards mean fewer failures and lower lifetime cost. And if you later re-export the goods, or export what you build with them, drawback can recover most of the US-side duties and a foreign-trade zone can defer them, which rewards buyers who plan the whole flow rather than just the purchase.
What this means for you Vet before you price, and match the bank account to the entity. That one check prevents the most common fraud. Classify the product early. The HS code decides your duty, your eligibility, and your landed cost. Prove origin, don't assume it. "Bought from a US company" is not "US origin," and only documented origin unlocks a preference. Choose the Incoterm as strategy. It sets who imports, who pays, and who bears risk. Compare on total landed cost. Factor in the time and reliability advantages of proximity and quality, and the recovery tools if you re-export.
Buying from the US is not complicated once you treat it as a sequence rather than a leap. Find and verify, classify and qualify, contract deliberately, document cleanly, pay with protection, and price the whole thing. Do that, and the depth, quality, and speed of American supply, especially in machinery, stop being a reputation and become an advantage you captured on purpose.
This article is informational and is not legal, customs, or financial advice. Requirements vary by product, country, and transaction. Confirm classification, origin, and documentation with a licensed customs broker or trade counsel.
SOURCES. That the United States was the world's second-largest goods exporter in 2025 with about $2.18 trillion in exports, machinery and mechanical appliances its second-largest category at roughly $283.6 billion, is reported in US export data summaries (https://www.worldstopexports.com/united-states-top-10-exports/; https://www.freightamigo.com/en/blog/logistics/what-does-the-united-states-export-top-products-categories-2025/). The platform for identifying and connecting with vetted US suppliers is the US Commercial Service's BuyUSA (https://www.trade.gov/buyusa). That buying from a US company is not the same as buying US-origin goods, and that KORUS duty-free treatment requires goods to be wholly obtained or meet the specific rule of origin and be certified as originating under a knowledge-based system, comes from US Customs and Border Protection's KORUS guidance (https://www.cbp.gov/trade/priority-issues/trade-agreements/korea) and the Department of Commerce's KORUS resources (https://www.trade.gov/us-korea-free-trade-agreement). The machinery documentation steps, including HS classification, the required documents and agency certifications such as EPA and FCC forms, and the Automated Export System filing for shipments over $2,500 per Schedule B number (72 hours ahead for used self-propelled equipment), come from machinery export and import guidance (https://jumbobee.com/blog/how-to-export-machinery-from-usa/; https://usacustomsclearance.com/process/importing-machinery-to-usa/).
