On April 2, a 25% tariff on most goods imported into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico is set to go into effect. The cost of those tariffs could be passed onto consumers, meaning that American horse owners might pay more than usual for imported items like hay, feed and lumber. 

But a lesser-known aspect of the tariffs is that they would also apply to horses coming into the U.S. from Canada or Mexico (and any other countries subject to tariffs), and not just if they’re being sold. Owners of horses crossing into the U.S. temporarily—to compete or be bred, for example—would also have to pay the tariff, although it could be refunded once the horse returns to its home country.

Originally intended to begin on Feb. 4, then delayed twice—to March 4 and then April 2—the tariffs have caused widespread confusion due to their frequently changing scope. Adding to the confusion, other countries are expected to announce reciprocal tariffs on goods being exported from the U.S., meaning American horse owners might have to pay similar tariffs to take horses from the U.S. into Canada to compete at venues such as Bromont or Spruce Meadows.

The uncertain nature of the on-again, off-again tariffs has thrown many industries into upheaval, but it’s been a particular shock to the North American horse industry, which has usually operated smoothly across borders.

“For the layman owner, navigating constantly changing tariffs and the rules of import and export of goods can be very overwhelming,” said Emily Stearns, the health, welfare and regulatory affairs liaison for the American Horse Council. “We’ve never had to worry about tariffs before, because horses have enjoyed life, for the most part, fairly tariff-free.”

The AHC has been following the issue since the tariffs were first announced in February, and has been working closely with Equestrian Canada and other Canadian organizations. The North American racing organizations for Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds and Quarter Horses have also been trying to inform their members, which has proven difficult with the shifting nature of the tariffs and the lack of information about how they’ll be implemented.

“It’s taken us [at the AHC] weeks to gather all this information,” Stearns said. “There are international shipping agents who have this kind of knowledge, but if you’re just Mary Jo Horseowner, and you want to go to Banff for the weekend, go up into Canada, and don’t realize that you may need to have $10,000 on hand for a temporary import bond, that’s going to be a pretty big deal.

“I worry about the financial impact on the upper-level competitors,” Stearns added. “I worry less about the logistical impact for them, because a lot of them are using shippers and livestock agents, but I’m worried more about the little guy going back and forth, running their own business, trying to do it all on their own, especially with how chaotic everything has been.”

Tariffs Aren’t Just For Sales Horses

What has caused the most consternation in North America with regard to the proposed tariffs is what’s known as “temporary movement,” where a horse crosses the border but is expected to return home. In the equine industry, crossing borders between the USA and its neighbors typically isn’t much more complicated than crossing borders between states or provinces, but that seems about to change.

“There are several activities that are essentially approved as a temporary reason, so that’s racing, competition, breeding, recreation, vacation and medical care,” Stearns said. “I think it’s important to clarify that temporary movement includes horses but would also include horse products. We think of horses as their own special thing, because they’re alive. But when we’re talking about temporary import of goods and concerns of tariffs, that includes lots of things, so people just need to be prepared for that if they go to the border.”

Those horse products could include tack, semen, embryos, and a range of other goods, and it will depend on each border’s policies, Stearns said, adding that AHC doesn’t know what those policies will be yet. 

So how would this all work? With the caveat that many details still remain unclear, and that whatever tariffs are actually implemented—if they’re implemented at all—could differ from what is currently expected, Stearns said that they’re getting two main questions from horse owners.

“One is, if you’re a ‘frequent flyer’ and traveling back and forth, what are the steps you need to take? And two is, if you’re traveling and a tariff goes into effect while you’re traveling, what does that mean? Will you have to pay money when you go home?” Stearns said.

Someone crossing the border with a horse temporarily—for competition or racing, for example—has two options, she said. 

“One is called ‘temporary import under bond,’ and this is when you go to cross the border, and they will make you pay a percentage of the tariff as a deposit, and you’ll get that deposit back when you go home,” Stearns said. “I say this with full seriousness, they could charge up to 200% of the value of the tariff. So if you are traveling with a $50,000 horse, and the U.S. goes ahead with a 25% tariff rate, and you’re traveling from Canada to the state of Florida, down to [the World Equestrian Center—Ocala] … you could easily pay upwards of $25,000 in cash or check as a deposit at the border, which is not an insignificant amount of money. And if we’re talking about some of those race horses or a stallion traveling for breeding, that very quickly goes up.”

Temporary import under bond is typically good for one year and one border crossing, Stearns said, but someone who crosses the border frequently would have to go through the same process every time. The owner also could not get permission to sell the horse while in the U.S., she added, so if someone wanted to have the option to sell the horse, they wouldn’t be able to utilize temporary import under bond.

The owner also needs to be able to document the horse’s current value, Stearns said. That can be in the form of a sales invoice, insurance assessment, or even sales ads for comparable horses. “You can say your horse is worth whatever you want. You just have to be able to back it up,” she said.

She added that the AHC has gotten questions about whether temporary imports under bond for horses from Canada are only good for 30 days. “We’ve reached out to [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] for clarification, but we think one place people are getting confused is that [the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service] considers horses imported from Canada for less than 30 days as exempt from an import permit, but that is a completely separate issue from tariffs and [temporary import under bond],” Stearns said.

In addition to temporary import under bond, there’s another option—one that the AHC is trying to educate people about: ATA Carnet. This is a customs document that Stearns describes as being like a tariff passport, which is accepted in over 80 countries and is good for one year and unlimited border crossings. “Most importantly, it does not require a deposit,” she said. “If you’re going back and forth a lot in that year, you just have this with you, and you won’t pay the tariff.”

Though there are fees associated with the ATA Carnet, it’s typically a one-time fee of less than $600 total, Stearns said.

Those who travel across the border frequently have also been concerned about the possibility of tariffs being imposed during a trip—not an unfounded concern considering the ever-changing nature of the proposed tariffs and their supposed implementation dates.

Stearns explained that, in these cases, border officials would follow their country’s rules of origin. These rules can differ—sometimes it depends on where the horse was born and sometimes it’s where the horse permanently resides—so you’ll want to look up how the rules apply to your horse. “So if I’m Canadian and I was down in Florida for six months, and now I’m coming home and a new tariff is in place for horses crossing from the United States into Canada, I won’t pay anything because we’re coming home,” she said.

The AHC has provided a detailed white paper on its website further explaining the different options and providing links on how to determine rules of origin and to look up the import codes that are necessary to fill out your paperwork, which can usually be done online ahead of time, Stearns said.

She emphasized that whatever happens with tariffs, all of the other rules related to customs and border crossings (like health certificates) still apply, so owners should be sure all of that is in order.

Uncertain Impacts

Lots of questions still remain about what tariffs will go into effect, if any, and whether retaliatory tariffs will follow. Canada is taking input from the Canadian public about proposed tariffs through April 2, and Equestrian Canada has urged its members to make their opinions known.

The U.S. Equestrian Federation said in a statement that it is monitoring the situation: “We are working closely with the American Horse Council to understand the implications of the rapidly evolving tariff situation and the potential impact on horses crossing the border. Horses entering a country temporarily (e.g., for competitions) often avoid tariffs but may require deposits or special documentation. We will share information as it becomes available with USEF members and encourage members to stay current by checking in with the resources provided by American Horse Council. We thank [AHC President] Julie Broadway and her team at the American Horse Council for their responsiveness in addressing the changing tariff situation and keeping the equine community informed.”

For the AHC’s part, Stearns said it is waiting, monitoring, and hoping for clarity, like everyone else. And although the situation is very fluid, she has a few suggestions for horse owners who are looking for additional information.

“We have been exceptionally unsuccessful at getting questions answered through customs and border patrol, which is concerning,” she said. “We’ve been recommending people reach out to us [at AHC] specifically, because we can try to help them decide if they need to talk to a shipper, if they need to talk to customs and border patrol, or just have a simple question that we could answer. So on top of us, we recommend that, depending what country they’re in, they try to contact their customs agencies. In the U.S. that’s customs and border patrol; it’s also the U.S. International Trade Commission. I personally had great success contacting the U.S. Council for International Business; they have been the most responsive and the most helpful group we’ve spoken with, and they help manage some of the ATA Carnet stuff.

“We’re all just kind of floating out here, hoping someone tells us what to do,” she added with a laugh. “I won’t even call it day-to-day, it’s just hour-by-hour at this point, because some mornings there are tariffs, and then by the afternoon there are not. We’ve been telling people, what you need to do is you need to plan ahead; you can’t just go to the border and expect to drive through. You need to know the requirements before you get to the border. You need to have all your documents. You need to make sure you have cash on hand, if that’s what you need. It can take a few days to get an ATA Carnet, and I’m sure that will go up, with all the tariffs it could take longer than that. But that’s something you want, get it when you get your health certificate for the season.”

“You see comments like, ‘Oh, just buy American hay,’ or, ‘Just buy American grain.’ I think what a lot of people don’t understand is, because of the overall loss of farmland and increased development and climate change, we’ve lost a lot of production of hay in the U.S.”

Emily Stearns, American Horse Council

Stearns added that the AHC is also concerned about the wider impact of the tariffs, not just on the international movement of horses at the elite levels of sport, but also on everyday horse owners.

“We get a lot of products from Canada, regardless of them being live horses, right? A lot of food products. We get a ton of hay, we get a ton of bedding. We have a lot of lumber coming in for construction. We have trucks and trailers and steel and aluminum for trucks and trailers. We’ve been really talking internally, and kind of messaging internally, our concerns for what costs going up for everyday husbandry means for horse owners,” she said. “You see comments like, ‘Oh, just buy American hay,’ or, ‘Just buy American grain.’ I think what a lot of people don’t understand is, because of the overall loss of farmland and increased development and climate change, we’ve lost a lot of production of hay in the U.S.”

The 2022 hay crop in the U.S. was the lowest since 1974, Stearns said, and there’s much more livestock currently in the U.S. than there was in the 1970s.

“I think we worry specifically that the combination of tariffs and, you know, we don’t like to say the word ‘recession,’ but it’s being thrown out there by people smarter than us,” she said. “[That combination] could really impact horse owners, especially those are already kind of on the line financially. And with grant funding and stuff going down, especially in the nonprofit sector, we worry about the capacity of welfare organizations being able to support more horse owners in need. So it’s just kind of starting to look like a perfect storm.”

For the most current information on how expected tariffs could affect horse owners, visit the American Horse Council website.