‘Devastating Impact on Distilleries’: If US and EU Don’t Secure Trade Deal, American Whiskey Producers Could Face Catastrophic Tariffs

American Whiskey exports could face tariffs with a 50% increase by 2024 if a trade agreement with the EU is not reached. (Photo: AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)

The Toasts Not Tariffs Coalition, an organization that is a part of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, is urging the U.S. and European Union to come to a trade agreement. If a compromise can’t be reached, potential retaliatory tariffs on American whiskey exports could rise to 50% in 2024.

From 1997 to 2018, the US had duty-free access to the EU until former US President Donald Trump implemented a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum from Europe.

The EU countered with a 25% tariff on American whiskey, and American whiskey exports dropped by approximately 20%.

The results had a “devastating impact on distilleries,” Toast Not Tariffs wrote in a letter to U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

Tai and Raimondo met with EU officials Thursday and are set to meet with them again Friday to reach an agreement on sustainable steel and aluminum.

“To suspend tariffs were significant steps in the right direction to rebuild the US-EU trading relationship and have helped American whiskey exporters located in 41 states begin to regain lost market share,” Toast Not Tariffs wrote in the letter.

The letter went on to commend President Biden’s commitment to rebuilding the U.S.’s trade relationship with the EU.

During the Biden administration, tariffs on American whiskey were suspended in October 2021 for the duration of two years.

The suspension led to a rebound of U.S. exports by 21 and 22% respectively as of October 2022. The letter strongly encourages both officials to come to an agreement with representatives from the EU to prevent a potentially devastating impact on whiskey exports from the U.S.

“We urge you to continue this positive momentum and secure an agreement with the EU that avoids the return of retaliatory tariffs on American whiskeys in January 2024,” the coalition wrote in the letter.

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