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Topline President Donald Trump on Thursday imposed a broad set of tariffs on imported drones and drone components, in a move the White House says is intended to bolster national security and the local supply chain, and that appears to primarily target popular Chinese-made drones.
In an official fact sheet , the White House said the presidential order will impose 100% tariffs on larger drones (weighing above 55 pounds) with certain capabilities that are “particularly sensitive for national security purposes.”
Drones that are smaller (weighing 55 pounds or less) and lack the sensitive capabilities mentioned that impact national security will face a 25% levy.
The proclamation includes a special carve-out for several U.S. allies, as drones made in the EU, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Taiwan will face a 15% tariff, while U.K.-made drones will face an even lower 10% tariff.
The tariffs will go into effect within 21 days, and for components considered not “particularly sensitive,” the levies will take effect after 180 days.
The order also allows the Commerce Secretary to create an “onshoring program” to incentivize and help companies making new investments in drone manufacturing in the U.S.
In premarket trading early on Friday, several major U.S. drone makers, including AeroVironment, Kratos Defense & Security, and Red Cat, saw their stock prices rise after the announcement. Another U.S. drone maker, Unusual Machines, saw the biggest bump, with its stock soaring more than 14% to $31.13 in early trading. The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., joined Unusual Machines’ advisory board in November 2024, and at the time he praised the company for bringing “drone manufacturing jobs back to the USA.” Trump Jr. was awarded 200,000 shares in the company for joining the board, and a month before that he had purchased 66,000 shares and 66,000 warrants in a private placement. Unusual Machines’ CEO Allan Evans told Forbes last year that Trump Jr. had a “strong alignment” with investors through his anti-ESG venture firm 1789 Capital and has ties to investors who are “very interested in MAGA or on-shoring or making America great, et cetera. So the engagement is really the outreach to the groups that are interested in what we’re trying to do.”
With the lower tariff carve-out for allied nations, the latest sweeping tariffs appear to primarily target Chinese drone makers, such as DJI, which dominate the market . This follows other federal regulatory efforts to crack down on the proliferation of Chinese-made drones and drone components. In December, the Federal Communications Commission effectively banned new Chinese-made drones from being sold in the U.S. Last month, the FCC began imposing fines and moved to ban the sale of rebadged versions of DJI drones—which circumvented its original ban. In recent months, the FCC has also moved to ban the sale of popular Chinese-made routers, robots—including robot vacuums—and power inverters in the U.S.
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