The 50 trade associations that make up the Toasts Not Tariffs Coalition called the five-year tariff suspensions announced earlier this week “tremendous progress.
“Securing a long-term tariff suspension in this dispute provides U.S., EU and UK producers, importers, exporters, and distributors of wines and spirits, as well as bartenders, restaurants, bars and other on-premise establishments with much-needed certainty, many of which have been negatively impacted by the pandemic,” it said, adding:
“The Toasts Not Tariffs Coalition hopes these important developments will set the stage for the prompt removal of the 25% tariffs on American Whiskeys to the UK and EU. Having recently entered the third year of retaliatory tariffs on American Whiskeys to these two key markets, it is critically important for our producers, our farmer suppliers and the hospitality sector across the U.S., EU and UK that we return to the zero-for-zero agreement on trade in distilled spirits.
“We fully appreciate the Biden administration’s commitment and ongoing efforts to secure a prompt return to duty-free trade for all distilled spirits and an agreement to refrain from imposing any new tariffs on wine,” the coalition concluded.