The United States and the European Union have agreed to end the EU’s 25 percent retaliatory tariffs on American-made boats and engines entering the EU.
The boating tariffs were part of a larger agreement, announced in a statement by President Biden and Ursula von der Leyden, President of the EU Commission, during the G20 Summit in Rome, that removed US tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from the EU that dated to 2018 and the Trump Administration.
The end of the tariffs are good news for American boat builders. “This agreement is a momentous victory for the recreational boating industry,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association. He said that American boat builders are the largest segment of the $788 billion a year outdoor recreation industry, supporting almost 700,000 jobs and 35,000 businesses.
President Biden said the agreement was “a major breakthrough” and the start of a new era of transatlantic cooperation. Former President Trump initiated the tariff dispute when his Administration started a tariff on steel and aluminum imported from the EU. In retaliation, the EU imposed its own tariffs on a variety of American-made products, including boat and engines.
The EU tariffs were due to increase from 25 percent to 50 percent on Dec. 1.
Hugelmeyer said the trade dispute hurt the US boating industry, and that “American boat builders were collateral damage of this tit-for-tat conflict for more than three years, resulting in a 50 percent reduction in exports to our industry’s second largest international market and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.” Read more:
