50% Aluminum Tariff Hits Boats, Engines and Trailers

When asked last week who would pay for the new tariffs, he said retailers “could eat the tariffs.” Burp.

June 17, 2025

A new 50% tariff on all steel and aluminum imported into the US announced by President Trump on Friday went into effect yesterday. This will directly affect the pricing of roughly about 96,000 aluminum boats, or 55% of all boats sold in the U.S.

According to the NMMA (National Marine Manufacturing Association), 95% of the boats sold in American are made here.

Not directly affected by the 50% duty on imported aluminum are about 2,200 aluminum boats, 2% of the total — most of which are imported from Canada. Canadian-made aluminum boats fall under the USMCA tariff rules passed in 2017, so long as they meet the rules of origin, which most should.

Tracker Aluminum Boat — **Tracker is the largest-selling brand of aluminum boats in the U.S.**

Aluminum Boat Brands Affected

The largest seller of aluminum boats in the U.S. is Tracker Marine, selling over 21,000 during 2022-23. It’s privately owned by Johnny Morris, and Tracker has long prided itself on keeping prices as low as possible. To that end, it has consolidated production and keeps retailer markup (10-13%) the lowest in the industry by having one “no hassle” MSRP price nationwide.

Tracker makes jon boats, bass boats, general fishing boats as well as pontoon boats. We expect that Tracker price increases will be the lowest among major boat builders, and since it has pricing power, it theoretically should set a benchmark for the rest of the industry, particularly brands with low price points.

Tracker is the aluminum Boat Benchmark. All Tracker boats are powered by Mercury outboard engines, and it’s Mercury’s single largest customer, which gives it significant price negotiating leverage with the engine maker. These four factors: 1) Consolidated manufacturing, 2) Low price-point culture, 3) lowest Mercury OEM-outboard engine pricing, and 4) low retail margin, should make it the brand to watch when the dust settles on aluminum tariffs.

Brunswick Corp. owns Lowe, Lund, Crestliner and Harris pontoon boats as well as Princecraft, which are made in Canada. It’s the second largest aluminum boat producer in North America, selling over 13,500 units from these 5 brands in the 2022-23 12-month period. Princecraft could be at a slight price advantage because its aluminum is sourced domestically.

Other major aluminum boat builders are Bennington, Alumacraft, G3 (owned by Yamaha), Smokercraft, and SeaArk, to name just a few.

Blended Rate Considerations

The overall impact on aluminum prices will depend on the proportion of domestic versus imported aluminum in the U.S. market. Given that the U.S. imports approximately 44% of its aluminum, with Canada being the largest supplier at 53.3% of the total aluminum imported. Together, the UAE and Bahrain rank second with a total of 8.2%, and China third at 4.6%.

The blended rate will reflect a combination of tariff-affected imported aluminum, and domestic production.

For example, if the base price of aluminum is $1,000 per metric ton, a 50% tariff could increase the cost of imported aluminum to $1,500 per metric ton. This increase would, in turn, raise the average price of aluminum in the U.S. market, depending on the mix of domestic and imported sources. But over time, pricing will reach an equilibrium among U.S. aluminum sheet suppliers, so as not to leave any money on the table.

To keep the math simple, let’s say that 100 lbs. of raw aluminum currently costs $0.50 a pound, or $50 in total for 100 lbs. of it. If 44% of aluminum stock is imported, then the “blended rate” will be $55.28 per 100 lbs.

55 lb. x $.50 = $28.00

44 lb. x $.75 = $33.00

Total $61.00 for 100lb. of “blended rate” aluminum, or +22% more

From this example, we can see that whatever the new aluminum prices are, the raw material will cost 22% more, because even U.S. venders using 100% American raw aluminum will be loath to leave 22% markup on the table. We doubt that they will – or even can – eat 22% markup.

Impact on Aluminum Prices

Indications are that the actual increase in aluminum costs could be much more than 22%, due to supply and demand factors, producer and middlemen “opportunity mark-up” and transportation cost hikes. Reuters reports that “U.S. Midwest duty-paid aluminum premium” took a 54% jump from Friday May 29 to Monday June 2, and reached $1,279 per metric ton two days before the 50% tariff went into effect.

Reuters also reported that the price of imported aluminum rose 164% since January 1, 2025.

Aluminum Rolls — **Most low-cost aluminum boats are made with aluminum so thin that it can be rolled up like toilet paper. The image above shows recycled aluminum rolls, which are a major source of U.S. raw aluminum.**

“Jumping the Fence”

President Trump said on May 30, during a speech at a U.S. Steel factory in Pennsylvania, “It’s [the tariff then] at 25%, they [foreign metal producers] can sort of get over that fence,” said Trump. “At 50% they can no longer get over the fence.”

Happily, aluminum producers will be able to jump “over the fence” otherwise the price of aluminum in the U.S. would go sky-high, or American producers would simply not have a enough material to make all the products they could sell. The 25% tariffs that Trump out on aluminum in March did not slow imports from Canada, according to industry experts.

The added 25%, bringing the total of new tariffs on aluminum to 25% is not likely to curb imports either, and too many companies need aluminum to stay in business. Just think of the amount of aluminum that goes into making beer cans?

The actual price increases that the new tariffs will have on aluminum boats waits to be seen, but it could be less than 10% of the retail price of a boat. Time will tell.

The Tariff Hits the Lowest-Priced Boats

Once upon a time, aluminum boats were relatively inexpensive, and accounted for nearly 70% of all boats sold in the U.S. But, like everything else in the boating world, inflation has already priced aluminum boats out of the reach of many Americans.

In 2023, the last year for which we have accurate data, fewer than 98,000 Americans bought aluminum boats. Of those, 35,193 — or 36% — were under 19’ in length, and 63,028 were 19’ or over.

Pontoon Boats. 37% of the aluminum boats sold were pontoon boats, the most popular type among American consumers. The pontoons, frame, fencing and other parts are all aluminum. Aluminum fishing boats have an even greater percent of aluminum in their construction.

The High-Price of Inflation

The average price of all new aluminum boats in 2023 was $38,265, according to the NMMA figures. Ten years before, the average price of all aluminum boats was $13,698.

That means over the last decade, even without a 50% tariff on aluminum, the cost of an average aluminum boat increased 279%. The two-and-a-half years of Covid buying frenzy accounted for over $10,000 of that average price escalation.

Typically, the average aluminum boat prices increased about $2,000 per year in the last 20 years, or so. While some of the increase of aluminum boat prices during Covid was because of supply chain issues, we strongly suspect that much of it was due to “opportunity mark-up” by everyone from venders to the retailer.

**President Trump’s Solution: In speaking about Walmart, he said retailers “should eat the tariffs” and not pass along this tax to consumers.**

Outboard Engines and Trailers, Too

The boats are just one category of products that will be affected by the new tax: Outboard engines and boat trailers will go up in cost, as well. While most of today’s modern outboard engines are aluminum and Mercury will bear the brunt of the 50% tariff, the degree to which that increases the cost of making an engine should not be great – primarily because outboards are so expensive, and the cost of the raw aluminum is relatively little in comparison.

See our article on Outboard Engine Pricing with the Tariffs.

Aluminum trailers, on the other hand, are another matter. In 2023, 235,000 new trailers were sold, and almost all of them were made of aluminum. Here, we can expect far more dramatic price increases, because the ratio of the cost of the raw material and the retail price is much larger. It is just the opposite of the situation with outboard engines.

U.S. Primary Aluminum Production

In 2023, the U.S. produced less than 900,000 metric tons of “primary” aluminum (Re-cycled aluminum is “secondary”), and there are only five operating smelters in the U.S. Total demand in the same year was over 5 million metric tons (for construction, transportation, packaging, electronics, defense – and recreational boats).

Alcoa's Smelter — **Here we can see one of Alcoa’s (aluminum company of America) 27 smelters – only two of which are in the U.S.**

Why Can’t the U.S. Ramp Up Production Easily?

In 2000, there were 23 primary aluminum smelters in the U.S., and today there are only 4 or 5. This erosion of American smelters occurred for a number of reasons, all of which are macrotrends and unlikely to be reversed. Here are some major reasons for American smelters moving offshore–

High Energy Costs:
40% of the cost of smelting aluminum is electricity. Aluminum smelting is extremely energy intensive, and industry experts say it will take four new Hoover dams to supply all of the electricity the smelters would need. U.S. electricity rates are often not competitive with those in Canada or the Middle East.
Environmental Regulations:
Building or restarting smelters in the U.S. faces lengthy permitting processes and tight environmental controls.
Labor and Infrastructure Costs:
Operating costs in the U.S. are higher than in developing nations, and many plants would need costly modernization.
Strategic Focus Has Shifted:
U.S. producers focus more on downstream fabrication (rolling, extruding) and recycling, not primary smelting.

Observations

The march north of boat prices has continued for the last 25 years, with only a mild respite during the Great Recession. The result is that boats of all types and price-points are rising beyond the reach of middle class, and even upper middle-class Americans. The results can easily be seen in the sales numbers: over 500,000 new boats made with all materials, were sold in the U.S. in 2000. In 2023 the number was 176,000 – a drop of 65%.

Family Boating — **Family boating increasingly will have to be done in used boats or “shared access” boats.**

The financial stress put on recreational boating, is simply one of the unintended consequences of high tariffs intended to create jobs in the dirty, costly, capital-intensive process of raw ore smelting. If, and when, that ever happens in the U.S., aluminum will cost even more than it does now, and aluminum-boat buyers will be fewer.

The new tariffs are just another nail in “boating-as-we-knew-it’s” coffin. Increasingly, the pleasures of our beloved recreation will only be affordable for the top 10% of American households.

Article and Images Courtesy of BoatTest.com

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