June 10, 2025

I think that many businesses are becoming “tarrified” by the developments coming from the Trump administration and their fear of what might suddenly happen, is causing them to freeze. In other words, they stop ordering for inventory, stop advertising and marketing and maybe stop hiring too. When the future is so uncertain and when tariffs of 50% are hitting production input costs like steel and aluminum from Canada, (or maybe not…or maybe more) business managers can’t make decisions or commitments with any reasonable certainty. Of course, in the boat business, we are very concerned about the impact of tariffs on our costs, so when we saw the story in BoatTest.com that gave a detailed accounting of the outboard industry and how tariffs may impact our business, we reached out. The publisher of BoatTest.com, Jeff Hammond has a cooperative business relationship with Canadian Boating magazine and Boating Industry Canada, and he very generously allowed us to reprint the story below, “24% TARIFF ON JAPANESE OUTBOARD ENGINES”.

This Tariff story gives us some perspective on the outboard motor situation and what the damage may be. In spite of this though, we may still be heading for a good summer.

I recently had the pleasure of an open and frank conversation with an Ontario-based boat dealer who shared his comments on sales results for his business so far this year. I’ll keep the names secret but the data was positive. They have cleared their 2023 inventory and virtually all the 2024 inventory as well. He said they are starting to sell 2025 models in positive numbers.

Of course, this dealer is faced with the same “tarrifying” uncertainty that we all are but they are moving ahead. Most new boat buyers are at least comfortably off financially or they would not be in the market for a boat at all.

Summers are precious and each of us only gets a few in our lifetimes. If you can buy a boat and make the most of those summer days with family and friends, you are likely to regret not doing it more than you will regret jumping in.

I feel that Canada’s demographics still favour boating very much.

Andy Adams – Editor

Disclaimer: This article was originally published by BoatTest.com and reflects tariff developments specific to the United States. These tariffs do not apply to outboard motors sold in Canada, and Canadian dealers and consumers are not affected.