Imported drones will be taxed at rates reaching 100% under an order the US president approved on Thursday.
European producers escaped the harshest tariff bracket. Equipment from the bloc will be charged 15% and British-made models will face a 10% rate. Washington's argument is that the US can no longer afford to depend on foreign factories for a weapon that has reshaped the battlefield and is central to modern warfare.
US President Donald Trump used Section 232 to impose the tariff rate, the national security provision already applied to steel, aluminium, copper, cars and pharmaceuticals.
The 100% rate covers drones weighing more than 25 kilograms at take-off or carrying thermal imaging, plus their docking stations and certain critical components. Smaller, less capable models and other parts face a 25% tariff.
Alongside the EU, the 15% band covers Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Taiwan, with the UK being the only one with the lowest 10% tariff. However, the caveat matters more than the rate.
To qualify for the lower band, all of a drone's hardware, software and technology must substantially originate in those countries or the US. That is a demanding test for European manufacturers, whose motors, batteries, cameras and flight controllers are still often bought from Chinese suppliers that dominate global production.
A drone failing it does not merely lose the discount, it falls back into the 25% or 100% category, depending on size and capability.
The tariffs will take effect 21 days after the signing of the order, or 180 days for less sensitive components, and the US Secretary of Commerce has been told to design a programme rewarding companies that move production onshore.
Who in Europe is exposed
The continent's drone industry is among the fastest-growing corners of European technology, and the US its most coveted export market.
France's Parrot is the most directly exposed listed manufacturer as its ANAFI range is certified under American defence procurement rules and is the default non-Chinese option for Western police and security forces.
Germany's Quantum Systems, valued above €1 billion, sells its reconnaissance aircraft to American customers, while Portugal's Tekever, worth over €1.1 billion, has been expanding into the US.
For some, geography limits the damage.
Quantum Systems already operates production facilities in the US, and several peers have been building American capacity to satisfy procurement rules favouring domestic suppliers. For them, the tariff is an argument for accelerating plans already under way.
Part of Trump's wider military overhaul
The tariff proclamation is one of several defence measures moving at once.
On the same day, US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum ordering a fifth naval shipyard be built, the first in more than 80 years, to expand submarine and aircraft carrier repair capacity, alongside a new component repair centre and a reorganisation of the Naval Sea Systems Command.
The same order instructs the navy to abandon electromagnetic catapults on its newest carriers and return to steam.
Behind it also lies a supply problem.
US media reported that US President Donald Trump confronted US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at Camp David in late July over depleted munitions stocks, after separate reporting suggested the Iran conflict had consumed much of the American inventory.
Those accounts have not been independently verified and the White House denies the exchange took place, with the US president insisting publicly that there is no shortage and calling the coverage false.
The proposed US defence budget for next year is around $1.5 trillion (€1.3bn).
