US–Morocco Free Trade Agreement: Importing Straw Bags Duty Free

If you are a US buyer comparing a Moroccan supplier against one in China, Vietnam or
India, there is a line in your landed-cost model that most people fill in wrong. It is
the duty line. For Moroccan-made straw bags, it is very often zero.

The United States–Morocco Free Trade Agreement has been in force since 2006. Under it,
the overwhelming majority of Moroccan-origin goods enter the United States free of duty.
Handwoven straw and raffia bags made in Morocco from Moroccan materials fall squarely
inside that. Buyers routinely tell us they had budgeted a duty percentage that simply
does not apply.

This post explains what actually qualifies, what you need to claim it, and where the
edge cases are. It is written for the buyer who has to defend a costing to a finance
team, not for a customs broker.

Why this is a structural advantage, not a discount

A supplier can discount a unit price. A supplier cannot change which trade agreement
their country is party to. When you source a straw bag from Asia you pay the applicable
duty on top of goods value and freight. When you source the same category from Morocco
under the FTA, that line goes to zero and stays there.

That is worth restating because it changes how the comparison works. If two quotes
land within a few percent of each other at the factory gate, the Moroccan one is not
“competitive” — it wins on landed cost by the full duty margin, every single order,
without anyone negotiating.

It also matters that this is stable. Duty relief that comes from a trade agreement is
not a promotional rate that expires at the end of a quarter. It is treaty-level.

What has to be true for a bag to qualify

Preferential treatment is not automatic because a shipment departs from Casablanca.
The goods have to originate in Morocco in the technical sense. In practice, for
our category, three conditions carry the weight:

• The bag is made in Morocco. Weaving, assembly and finishing happen
  in our workshops. This is the easy one for us — it is the only way we work.
• The materials are substantially Moroccan. Our doum palm and raffia
  are sourced domestically. Where a component is imported — certain hardware, some
  linings — the agreement’s rules of origin allow for it provided the required threshold
  of Moroccan content and transformation is met.
• Shipment is direct. Goods travel Morocco to the United States
  without entering the commerce of a third country along the way.

Bags that are woven in Morocco but assembled elsewhere, or that carry a high
proportion of imported value, need to be assessed individually. We will tell you plainly
when a specification takes a product close to that line, because a claim that fails at
the border costs you far more than the duty would have.

The paperwork

Lighter than most buyers expect. There is no government-issued certificate of origin
to chase for FTA claims under this agreement. What US Customs and Border Protection
requires is that the importer can support the claim if asked.

In practice that means we supply, with every US shipment:

• A commercial invoice that states Moroccan origin explicitly.
• A packing list matched line by line to the invoice.
• A declaration of origin covering the goods on that invoice.
• On request, supporting production records showing where materials came from and
  where the work was done.

Your customs broker makes the preference claim at entry. Keep the documentation on
file — CBP can request it after the fact, and the records need to be available for the
retention period your broker specifies.

What this does to a real costing

Take a straightforward first order: 500 medium raffia totes, air freight, delivered to
a US warehouse. Your cost stack is goods value, international freight, customs clearance,
any applicable duty, and inland delivery.

Under the FTA, the duty line is zero. Everything else behaves as normal — you still
pay the merchandise processing fee and any harbour maintenance fee where it applies, and
you still pay freight. Nobody should tell you a shipment is “free of all charges.” It is
free of duty, which is usually the largest single line after freight itself.

The practical effect for most buyers we work with is that Morocco moves from “premium
alternative” to “lower landed cost than Asia” on quantities under a container, once air
or LCL freight from a much shorter distance is factored alongside zero duty.

Where buyers get caught out

Assuming it covers freight and fees. It does not. Freight, brokerage,
MPF and inland delivery are all still payable.

Assuming every product qualifies. Most of ours do. A heavily
customised piece with substantial imported content might not. Ask before you cost it in.

Shipping via a consolidator that breaks direct shipment. If your
freight forwarder routes goods through a third country in a way that enters them into
that country’s commerce, the claim can fail. Tell your forwarder the shipment is moving
under an FTA claim.

Not telling the broker. The claim has to be made at entry. Brokers
who mostly clear Asian freight do not always expect a Moroccan preference claim. Flag it
in advance.

If you are also selling into the EU

Morocco has a parallel arrangement with the European Union under the Association
Agreement, which gives preferential access there too. Buyers running both a US and a EU
business can serve both markets from the same production without a duty penalty on
either side. That is unusual and worth building into your planning.

Getting a real number

We can produce a landed-cost estimate for a specific specification, quantity and US
destination — goods, freight, clearance, and the duty line shown honestly as zero where
it applies. It takes us about a day.

Send the specification through our contact page, or browse
the wholesale catalogue if you are still shaping the range. If you
want to see how a full programme comes together first, our
case studies walk through completed work with named clients.