Thanks to Trump, the world’s largest superyachts are increasingly being bought by Americans
Today’s superyacht buyers are younger and richer than they were a decade ago, and they’re increasingly American, enriched by the pandemic business boom, a roaring stock market and deep tax cuts.
Rather than wait for a gilded retirement, they are buying in their prime, looking for a plaything with all the trappings of home. They’re tethered to the world with Starlink internet while they play in St. Barts or Sardinia, or venture to more out-of-reach corners, like the Arctic. Among the coveted features are basketball courts, discos, underwater lounges, gyms, and wellness spas.
While yacht sales overall are down amid concerns about tariffs and an uncertain economy, sales of superyachts 40 meters and larger are up from last year, according to SuperYacht Times, which provides industry data. The company also reported that in 2024, sales of boats over 80 meters, about the length of a riverboat cruise ship, almost doubled from 2023 levels, and are on track to hold steady in 2025.
Americans own more superyachts over 40 meters than anyone else in the world, accounting for 23 percent of the global fleet, according to SuperYacht Times. Russians, who have vanished from the market since the country’s invasion of Ukraine, are a distant second, at 7 percent.
“American buyers are the cork that keeps everything floating,” said Ralph Dazert, head of intelligence for SuperYacht Times.
The top 0.1 percent of American households saw their wealth grow by 90 percent, to a collective $23.3 trillion, from the fourth quarter of 2017, when President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, to the second quarter of 2025, according to the Federal Reserve.
Americans for Tax Fairness, a tax policy advocacy group, found that the number of billionaires tracked by Forbes grew by nearly 40 percent, to 905 people, during the same period.
“The wealthy became very wealthy in the U.S. You can attribute that to Trump,” said Jan VanHogerwou, an executive at the Dutch shipyard Amels, while standing in front of the 74-meter Casino Royale, the largest vessel at the Fort Lauderdale show, which his company built.
A decade ago, Americans accounted for a sliver of Amels’ superyacht business. Today, they make up 85 percent of it. Among the company’s commissions is a superyacht that can grow its own food so its owner can live onboard autonomously if necessary to escape land during a pandemic or war. “They call them Armageddon buyers,” Mr. VanHogerwou said. [Continue reading…]