Hi! Casually browsing horses and then had a lightbulb moment–are imported horses from Europe going to be subject to tariffs?
Anyone know if animals are excluded?
Yes. Here are the rules (from memory, a post on FB that I cannot find.)
For horses sold to the USA, a 25% tariff, paid by the buyer, is required.
Horses can enter the USA from Canada, but the owner will have to post a bond for 25% of the horse’s value, which will be returned if the horse returns to Canada within 30 days. Otherwise, the bond is forfeited.
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Wow, great insights. Thank you!
Where is this posted?
Are you sure about that? My new horse was imported from Canada in late January. I did not have to post a bond. The only cost beside shipping was $300 for the border crossing.
Probably because the tariff wasn’t implemented in January.
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What is the “bond?” I understand the tariff, but I’m confused about the bond assessed on the value of the horse.
a Customs Bond (CBP Form 301)… is a type of surety bond required by CBP to import goods into the United States. It guarantees that the importer will fulfill their obligations, including paying any duties, taxes, and fees associated with the import, as well as complying with import regulations.
Thanks. I’m not sure if this is a new thing. I didn’t pay a bond on my horse.
Not sure how old you are and what animal you’re talking about (the one imported in January of this year??) but bonds on imported horses is not terribly new.
IRRC bonds were first introduced in the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, became effective September 1, 1985, and has no termination date
you probably did pay a bond, but just didn’t know it – or else I wouldn’t admit that I didn’t on the internet LOL
Control + f and type “bond” all the details are there per the law.
No need to be insulting. Yes, I imported a horse. The shipper handled all the import paperwork and the word “ bond” was not mentioned, only import fee and vet inspection fee. If the import fee was the bond, I wasn’t aware.
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Apologies for pedantic instructions
We have a lot of elderly folks on here (which is AWESOME) and was just trying to be as explicit as possible as I wasn’t sure if you knew how to search for information related to CBP laws on the Internet.
Back in the old days of the Internet forums existed (BBS!) but classical search engines did not so older people are more used to asking communities for information vs self-serving!
Also - most countries enjoy making a extra $$ off citizens - so it was a joke that you didn’t pay because that would be basically impossible unless you were in an international crime ring 
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The tariffs for Canadian good were not active at that time.
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It’s mostly being reported on in the racing industry. Here’s an example.
https://www.drf.com/news/canadian-thoroughbred-horse-society-issues-guidance-proposed-us-tariffs
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“Purebred breeding and racing animals”
Does this mean a crossbred/unregistered gelding does not incur a tariff?
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Um, older folks on an internet forum don’t know how to look things up? That comment sounds a little discriminatory.
It looks like the bond is equal to what the tariff would be if you sold the horse. If you end up keeping the horse in the States, you lose the bond – or basically pay the tariff. If you go back to Canada, you can request it back from the US Government. Wonder how quickly that will be processed. 
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Standardbred Canada has also posted an article. I need to pay closer attention to their page! I think most of our horses are US bred, so we might get lucky on this if DD goes down to race this season.
https://standardbredcanada.ca/notices/3-12-25/notice-members-regarding-impending-tariffs.html
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No that’s just an article from a private company and that’s their main concern.
Per the same article
United States enacted a 25 per cent blanket tariff on all Canadian goods entering the country
Blanket tariff
All goods
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Thanks for the clarification, that’s what I suspected.
