"So far, " he told us at the end of April, "I have had no reports of any action being taken against marine industry companies. I deduce that for now it is not a having a significant impact on the industry."

The matter continues to be monitored by EURMIG - the EU MIAs - by myself on behalf of all our members and by the US National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), he added.

Rice said that Pedro Lamy, EU trade commissioner, had removed leisure marine goods from the list of affected products. After serious lobbying from ICOMIA, the British Marine Federation (BMF) and other MIAs, similar action had been taken during the steel dispute with the USA.

However, BB can tell ICOMIA that at least one UK company has reported to us that the duties have been levied on their imported products.

In the USA, the NMMA, sent a message to its members explaining how the EU had slapped the punitive tariffs on when "Congress failed to meet the EU's deadline for repealing the Extraterritorial Income (ETIformerly FSC) tax program".

The email went on to explain that some NMMA members had encountered customs agents confused about the tariffs, noting that some had attempted to - mistakenly - apply the tariffs to a broad range of marine products.