US Drone Tariffs Hit on September 3 – 25% More Expensive, and DJI Is Still Banned

Drone News

by Nino LeitnerAugust 18^th, 2026

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The White House has signed a proclamation imposing tariffs of 25% to 100% on imported drones and drone components, with the first rates applying to goods entering the United States from September 3, 2026. Sub-250g aircraft are explicitly included, any drone carrying a thermal imager jumps to the top tier regardless of size, and the new duties stack on top of everything already charged at the border. And no, paying the duty does not buy DJI a way back into US stores.

Here is the short version, before the legal machinery. From September 3, almost every drone imported into the United States costs more. Camera drones, meaning anything at or under 25 kilograms (55 pounds) without thermal imaging, pick up a 25% duty. Anything heavier, anything with a thermal camera aboard, plus docking stations and a list of critical parts, pays 100%. Propellers, rotors, undercarriages, and other airframe parts follow at 25% on February 9, 2027. The rates hit the value of the whole aircraft, not the part that triggered them, and they land on top of the duties importers already pay.

The instrument is a presidential proclamation, Adjusting Imports of Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Unmanned Aircraft Systems Components into the United States, signed on August 13, 2026 under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the same national security authority behind the steel, aluminum, and copper tariffs. It follows a Commerce Department investigation opened in July 2025, which concluded that the United States is, in the document’s words, “too reliant on foreign sources of UAS and UAS components.”

The detail sits in three annexes: Annex I for the 100% tier, Annex II for the 25% tier, and Annex III for next February’s parts list.

That is where the surprises are.

The thermal clause ignores weight entirely

The detail that matters most for working operators is buried in the annex notes rather than the White House fact sheet. Annex I marks the tariff headings for aircraft under 250g, from 250g to 7kg, and from 7kg to 25kg with a scope limitation reading “TI”, meaning those headings are pulled into the 100% band only for aircraft with thermal imaging. In practice, weight stops being the deciding factor the moment a thermal payload is involved. A compact thermal model that would otherwise sit comfortably in the 25% band is taxed at the same rate as a 30-kilogram industrial platform, and the annex specifies that the duty applies to the full value of the article rather than to the thermal module alone.

That reaches further into professional work than it first appears. Thermal is standard equipment for inspection, search and rescue, agriculture, and public safety flying, and it turns up in documentary and wildlife production too. Anyone running a mixed fleet now has two very different cost structures inside the same aircraft family.

Sub-250g is not a loophole here

The 249g class exists because of aviation rules, not customs rules, and the annexes make that distinction plain. Annex II opens with the heading covering unmanned aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of not more than 250 grams, which places the entire lightweight category squarely in the 25% band. The regulatory advantage of flying under the threshold in most jurisdictions remains, but it buys nothing at the port.

That catches a lot of what has made this category interesting lately, in addition to DJI’s entry-level drones. Antigravity’s A1, the 8K 360 drone built by Insta360’s drone brand, also sits at 249g. So does much of the HOVERAir line from Zero Zero Robotics, including the waterproof AQUA. These are Chinese-manufactured aircraft aimed directly at creators, and none of them benefit from being small.

The allied rate cap comes with unfinished paperwork

There is a lower tier, though qualifying for it is another matter. Products of Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, or an EU member state face a duty rate capped at 15% including the standard Column 1 rate, and UK products are capped at 10%. The condition is that importers certify that substantially all critical components and technology originate in the United States or in those same partner countries.

Two things make that harder than it sounds. First, “substantially all” is not defined in the proclamation; the Secretary of Commerce is directed to establish a process for determining whether products meet the criteria and to inform Customs and Border Protection accordingly, and that process does not exist yet with three weeks to go. Second, the proclamation itself undercuts the premise by noting that most commercial and industrial drones, including those built domestically, rely on foreign motors, electronic speed controllers, lithium-ion batteries, and docking stations. A European or Japanese airframe assembled around Chinese drivetrain parts is exactly the case the certification is designed to catch.

These duties sit on top of the existing ones

The proclamation states that the new duties apply in addition to any other duties, taxes, fees, and charges already applicable. There is no netting against existing rates and no consolidated ceiling outside the partner-country caps, and manufacturing drawback survives only where an article carries no antidumping or countervailing duty order and at least 85% trade agreement partner content, a bar most current drone supply chains will struggle to clear. Nor is there relief for the way many of these aircraft actually reach US buyers, since units brought in by third-party importers clear customs like any other shipment.

Props and airframe parts follow in February

The February 9, 2027 tranche is narrower than the rhetoric around component dependence suggests. Annex III lists propellers and rotors, undercarriages, and other aircraft parts classifications, taxed at 25% when imported for use in unmanned aircraft. Where an article appears in both Annex I and Annex III, the higher Annex I rate governs. Notably, the annexes do not tariff every imported motor, speed controller, or battery cell, despite those being named among the dependencies that prompted the action.

That gap may not last. The proclamation authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to add further components to the scope on a rolling basis, effective on dates set out in Federal Register notices, and to reverse or modify those decisions later. Repair parts and spares are therefore a moving target rather than a fixed cost, which is an awkward position for rental houses and production companies planning a year ahead.

So can DJI sell new drones in the US again, just 25% more expensive?

No, and this is the misreading worth heading off early. A tariff is a customs charge on goods that are legally permitted to enter the country. It is not permission. Paying a duty does not create authorization, and nothing in this proclamation touches the FCC rules that keep new DJI models out of the US market in the first place.

Those rules run on a separate track. In December 2025, the FCC added DJI, Autel, and effectively all foreign-made drones to its Covered List, which blocks new equipment authorizations. Since any device with a radio transmitter needs an FCC ID before it can be legally imported, marketed, or sold in the United States, that designation stops new models at the door regardless of what anyone is willing to pay. It is why the DJI Mavic 4 Pro and the Mini 5 Pro never got an official US launch, and it stays true on September 3.

What the tariff actually does is raise the price of the drones that can still legally enter: previously authorized DJI models still moving through US retail, aircraft from brands that hold valid authorizations, and everything from HOVERAir to Autel to Western manufacturers importing foreign-built parts. The net effect for US buyers is the worse of both worlds, a catalog frozen at the models authorized before December 2025, now with 25% added to the ones still coming in. Gray imports do not escape either, since those units clear customs like any other shipment and were already being sold without valid authorization.

There is one more pressure point on the same shelf. In July 2026, the FCC went further and asked for comment on prohibiting the continued import and marketing of previously authorized “military-grade” models, a category broad enough to sweep in the thermal and LiDAR hardware found in consumer lines. That comment window closes on September 2, 2026, one day before the tariffs begin.

For anyone worried about the rest of the kit, the annexes cover aircraft headings plus a short list of electrical parts specified for use in unmanned aircraft. Gimbals, wireless video systems, and handheld cameras are not in scope here, whatever separate exposure they carry through FCC authorization enforcement.

Harder to unwind than the last round

Anyone assuming the courts will sort this out should look at which statute is being used. In February, the Supreme Court decided that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs, invalidating the reciprocal tariffs announced in 2025. These drone duties rest on the authority that survived, and they continue in effect until they are expressly reduced, modified, or terminated.

While companies committing to build, refurbish, or expand US production facilities can apply to import covered products and production equipment duty-free while that construction runs, that will not change a thing for filmmakers in the US in need of drones.

For US operators the near-term picture is simpler: the drones already on shelves are the ones the market has, and they are about to cost more. Our DJI drone guide and our earlier deep dive into the US drone situation are useful background while the rules keep moving.

Does a 25% duty change what you fly, or is availability still the bigger obstacle in the US? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!