The European Union has announced the reinstatement of tariffs on US recreational boats, effective from 1 April 2025.
Ireland’s afloat.ie reports that this decision comes as a direct response to the US steel and aluminium tariffs declared by the US Administration in February.
A European Union Memo on EU countermeasures issued on 12 March 2025 outlines the EU Commission response to the United States intention to impose tariffs of up to 25% on imports of steel, aluminium, and certain products containing steel and aluminium from the European Union and other trading partners.
In response, the EU Commission is launching a series of countermeasures to protect European businesses, workers and consumers from the impact of these unjustified trade restrictions.
The Commission has launched a swift and proportionate response, designed to defend European interests through two countermeasures:
- The reimposition of the suspended 2018 and 2020 rebalancing measures;
- The imposition of a new package of additional measures.
On 1 April 2025, the 2018 and 2020 rebalancing measures will automatically be reinstated once their suspension expires on 31 March.
The EU Tariffs will be applied on products ranging from boats to bourbon to motorbikes.
Since the new US tariffs are significantly broader in scope and affect a significantly higher value of European trade, the Commission launched on 12 March the process to impose additional countermeasures on the US.
These will target approximately €18 billion worth of goods, which will then apply together with the reimposed measures from 2018. The objective is to ensure that the total value of the EU measures corresponds to the increased value of trade impacted by the new US tariffs.
