From Latin 'in-' (into) + 'portāre' (to carry) — its dual life (goods and significance) reflects the Latin original.
To bring goods or services into a country from abroad for sale; to transfer data into a system; to convey or imply a meaning.
From Latin 'importāre' (to bring in, carry in, convey), composed of 'in-' (in, into) + 'portāre' (to carry), from PIE *per- (to lead, to pass over, to carry across). The PIE root is extraordinarily productive, yielding Latin 'porta' (gate, the place you carry things through), 'portus' (harbor), Greek 'póros' (πόρος, passage, ford), English 'ford,' 'ferry,' 'fare,' and 'ford.' When 'import' entered English via Old French in the fifteenth century
In Spanish and Italian, 'importar' and 'importare' still primarily mean 'to matter' rather than 'to bring in goods.' 'No me importa' in Spanish means 'I don't care' — literally 'it doesn't carry itself into me.' English kept both senses but the commercial one dominates, while the 'to matter' sense survives mainly in the adjective 'important' and the noun 'importance.'