The confirmation was praised by the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., which said it looks “forward to working with her to build back our key trading relationships, which will help restore important export markets and support American jobs.
The immediate and critical trade issue facing our industry is the urgent need to return to duty-free trade in distilled spirits between the U.S., EU and UK.
While there has been some important progress in de-escalating trade tensions and suspending certain tariffs on EU spirits, it is essential that American Whiskeys, including America’s native spirits, Bourbon and Tennessee Whiskey, are not left behind.
The continued application by the EU and UK of a 25 percent tariff on American Whiskeys in response to the steel and aluminum dispute is having a devastating impact on our exports. Since the EU’s tariffs were imposed, American Whiskey exports to the EU have declined by 37 percent and to the UK by 53 percent.
American Whiskey exports will nosedive even further with the scheduled doubling of the EU’s tariff to 50 percent on June 1, which cannot be allowed to happen.