On Saturday, President Trump announced that his long-threatened tariffs would go into effect on Tuesday in the form of a 25 percent fee on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10 percent fee on imports from China. While it was announced today that there will a month-long pause on the Mexican tariffs, the situation is still uncertain and the American whiskey industry is expressing a great deal of concern.
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Mexico’s Chamber of Tequila, and Spirits Canada issued a lengthy joint statement on Saturday to highlight their fears about how these new tariffs will affect their industries. “Maintaining fair and reciprocal duty-free access for all distilled spirits is crucial for supporting jobs and shared growth across North America,” it began, going on to note that many of the major drinks companies own brands in all three countries—for example, Suntory Global Spirits owns Jim Beam, El Tesoro Tequila, and Alberta Distillers. Trade in spirits among the three countries has increased by huge margins over the past few decades, but the statement makes a point of saying that positive growth is now being threatened. “This slowdown will be exacerbated if a cycle of tariffs and matching retaliation begins,” it says, “and the impact will be felt not just by the distilled spirits industry, but also by consumers and the struggling hospitality sector, which is still recovering from the pandemic.”
Earlier today, it was announced that Trump was pausing his tariffs on Mexico for a month after he and Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum had what he called a “very friendly” conversation. Of course, there’s no guarantee that this reprieve will extend beyond that, but tequila and whiskey makers are holding out hope that they can come to an agreement to completely quash the tariffs. No such deal has been reached with Canada yet, although Trump is set to talk to outgoing prime minister Justin Trudeau later today, who imposed a retaliatory 25 percent tariff on American goods. In the meantime, Ontario premier Doug Ford followed through on a threat of retaliation he made last month and ordered the province’s Liquor Control Board to stop selling American spirits—a bold move, considering that sales of American booze equal nearly a billion dollars annually, according to CNBC. “There’s never been a better time to choose an amazing Ontario-made or Canadian-made product,” said Ford in a statement.
Other Canadian provinces are primed to follow suit. According to a story in the Independent, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, and Quebec will also ban sales of American booze, while British Columbia premier David Eby said he would ban sale of liquor produced in “red states”—with Kentucky bourbon being the obvious target. This is all pretty bad news for the American spirits industry, but it should come as no surprise to anyone given that it’s literally what Trump campaigned on. As mentioned before, the situation is still unfolding, so we will update you on any changes to come—and there will likely be many.
