Warning that without an exclusion, President Trump’s tariff on aluminum imports “will like mean higher prices, and, likely, the loss of jobs,” MillerCoors in a series of tweets Friday, went on to say: “We will work within the exclusion process to demonstrate that can sheet aluminum should be exempted from any tariff in the name of economic prosperity.”
The brewer noted that the Defense Department “is on the record hat any aluminum tariff is not being done in the name of national security.”
Bob Pease, president/ceo, Brewer’s Association, noted that cans make up about 20% of craft volume nationally. About 115 billion beer cans are produced each year.
“The administration is saying that this will be pennies per can,” Pease said. “That may be true but with a cost increase for 115 billion beer cans produced, it’s not insignificant. And packaging in the can for breweries has been growing in popularity.”
He added the exemption of Canada and Mexico from the tariffs is welcome. “About two-thirds of aluminum imports come from Canada.