WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has announced tariffs of up to 100 per cent on imports of unmanned drones and their components to reduce US reliance on imports in an industry dominated by China.

The US president justified the decision on national security grounds, according to a White House statement issued on Thursday, which detailed a 100pc duty rate on the import of certain unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), as they are formally known.

Those with a takeoff weight of more than 25 kilograms and with so-called national security capabilities such as thermal cameras and docking stations will be tariffed at 100pc. Smaller drones face a 25pc tariff.

The statement said the tariffs will “encourage increased domestic production” of drones and their components and reduce reliance on foreign supply chains.

Most of the new tariffs are to take effect from September 3.

White House says move aims to reduce dependence on foreign supply chains

“The tariffs are really targeting industrial and commercial drones, and to a lesser degree smaller drones used by hobbyists,” Clayton Swope, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told AFP.

Dual use

In December 2025, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) — which is charged with regulating telecommunications nationally — argued that domestic production of drones would “reduce the risk of direct UAS attacks and disruptions, unauthorised surveillance, sensitive data exfiltration, and other UAS threats to the homeland”.

It added that drones “are inherently dual-use: they are both commercial platforms and potentially military or paramilitary sensors and weapons,” and foreign production of drones and their components, “could enable persistent surveillance, data exfiltration, and destructive operations over US territory”.

The war in Ukraine has underscored how commercial and hobbyist drones can be outfitted for frontline attacks.

The Chinese company DJI, founded in 2006, has captured more than two-thirds of the global drone market in recent years, according to several studies.

It has also been in Washington’s crosshairs for several years, with US officials accusing it of supplying products used to surveil ethnic minorities in China, particularly the Uyghurs.

Since 2022, DJI has been on a US list of Chinese companies linked to the country’s military and therefore subject to restrictions on access to US technology.

DJI fought its inclusion on the list in 2024, insisting that it was not owned or controlled by the military.

It is “critical that America be able to produce its own unmanned capabilities without parts or even raw materials from China,” Joshua Steinman, a supply chain expert formerly on the Trump administration’s National Security Council, told AFP.

Last week, China announced restrictions on drone exports to the United States and blacklisted six companies in response to trade sanctions imposed by Washington over forced labour and national security concerns.

That move came days after the US imposed fresh tariffs on China and 59 countries.

In late July 2026, the US government also added humanoid and quadruped robots to a blacklist of products and companies barred from import into the United States, saying they posed critical national security risks.

That sector, too, is dominated by Chinese industry.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2026