EU May Impose Tariffs on Imports of U.S. Diamonds and Gemstones

By Rob Bates | March 13, 2025

The European Union is poised to add tariffs to diamonds, gemstones, and precious metals imported from the United States, in response to President Trump’s decision to slap new levies on all aluminum and steel imports to the U.S.

Goods that would be subject to the planned retaliatory tariffs, according to an EU list, include “diamonds, worked, but not mounted or set (excluding industrial diamonds)”; “rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, worked…but not strung, mounted, or set”; silver; platinum; palladium; and “imitation jewelry, of base metal, whether or not plated with precious metal.” The tariffs could total up to $28 billion.

“This would absolutely affect the U.S. industry,” says Sara Yood, president and CEO of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee. “There are many U.S.-based diamond dealers who bring loose polished goods to the U.S. for evaluation/grading and then send them back out to the EU—for example, to the French maisons for setting into jewelry.”

According to U.S. International Trade Commission data, last year the U.S. exported $1.7 billion in unmounted diamonds to Belgium, $338 million in diamonds to France, and $61 million in diamonds to Italy. It also exported $402 million in other unset gemstones to France and $102 million to Italy in 2024.

Canada, the leading supplier of aluminum to the United States, also announced new 25% tariffs on $29.8 billion in U.S. imports. Canada’s first round of retaliatory measures, in response to initial Trump tariffs, included several jewelry items. Its second list, in response to the action on steel and aluminum, contains even more, with new surcharges on U.S. imports of pearl items, imitation jewelry, and unwrought gold and platinum, including “scrap” metals.

EU president Ursula von der Leyen said in remarks announcing the countermeasures that the EU “deeply regrets” any retaliatory tariffs but felt it had no choice.

“Tariffs are taxes,” she said. “They are bad for business, and worse for consumers. They are disrupting supply chains. They bring uncertainty for the economy. Jobs are at stake. Prices will go up. Nobody needs that—on both sides, neither in the European Union nor in the United States.”

(Photo: Getty Images)