Trump announces tariffs of up to 100% on imported drones

President Donald Trump introduced on Thursday (August 13, 2026) tariffs of as much as 100% on imports of unmanned drones and their parts to cut back U.S. reliance on imports in an trade dominated by China.

The U.S. president justified the choice on nationwide safety grounds, in response to a White Home assertion that detailed a one hundred pc responsibility charge on the import of sure unmanned plane methods (UAS), as they’re formally identified.

These with a takeoff weight of greater than 25 kilograms and with so-called nationwide safety capabilities corresponding to thermal cameras and docking stations will likely be tariffed at 100%.

Smaller drones face a 25% tariff.

The assertion stated the tariffs will “encourage elevated home manufacturing” of drones and their parts and scale back reliance on international provide chains.

Many of the new tariffs are to take impact September 3.

“The tariffs are actually focusing on industrial and business drones, and to a lesser diploma smaller drones utilized by hobbyists,” Clayton Swope, a senior fellow on the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research, informed AFP.

Twin use

In December 2025, the US Federal Communications Fee (FCC) — which is charged with regulating telecommunications nationally — argued that home manufacturing of drones would “scale back the chance of direct UAS assaults and disruptions, unauthorized surveillance, delicate information exfiltration, and different UAS threats to the homeland.”

It added that drones “are inherently dual-use: they’re each business platforms and probably army or paramilitary sensors and weapons,” and international manufacturing of drones and their parts, “may allow persistent surveillance, information exfiltration, and damaging operations over U.S. territory.”

The battle in Ukraine has underscored how business and hobbyist drones could be outfitted for frontline assaults.

The Chinese language firm DJI, based in 2006, has captured greater than two-thirds of the worldwide drone market in recent times, in response to a number of research.

It has additionally been in Washington’s crosshairs for a number of years, with U.S. officers accusing it of supplying merchandise used to surveil ethnic minorities in China, notably the Uyghurs.

Since 2022, DJI has been on a U.S. record of Chinese language corporations linked to the nation’s army and due to this fact topic to restrictions on entry to U.S. expertise.

DJI fought its inclusion on the record in 2024, insisting that it was not owned or managed by the army.

It’s “important that America be capable to produce its personal unmanned capabilities with out components and even uncooked supplies from China,” Joshua Steinman, a provide chain professional previously on the Trump administration’s Nationwide Safety Council, informed AFP.

Final week, China introduced restrictions on drone exports to the US and blacklisted six corporations in response to commerce sanctions imposed by Washington over compelled labor and nationwide safety considerations.

That transfer got here days after the U.S. imposed recent tariffs on China and 59 nations.

In late July 2026, the U.S. authorities additionally added humanoid and quadruped robots to a blacklist of merchandise and firms barred from import into the US, saying they posed important nationwide safety dangers.

That sector, too, is dominated by Chinese language trade.