UK and EU brewers are facing up to the prospect of 25% tariffs on their exports to the US, after beer was added to a list of aluminium-linked products subject to an elevated levy.
Beer and empty aluminium cans were added to an annex of a bureaucratic note published by the US department of commerce on Wednesday (2 April).
The 25% tariff exceeds both the 20% and 10% tariffs placed on other EU and UK imports into the US respectively.
Many British brewers would not be able to “sustain a hit such as this”, warned BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin.
“A 25% tariff on beer imported into the US is a direct hit to the brewers of the UK, who contribute so much to this country’s economy and heritage,” McClarkin said. “We urge the government to defend the great British brewing industry and strike a deal which removes these harmful tariffs.”
Meanwhile, confusion reigned after EU trade body Brewers of Europe – whose members include Carlsberg, AB InBev and Heineken – said it had been unable to clarify if the 25% levy would apply to only beer packaged in aluminium cans, or all beer products.
It warned the tariff could result in the loss of up to 100,000 jobs and the closure of breweries across the trading bloc. European brewers sent €870m (£741m) of beer to the US last year, it added.
“We are calling on the commission to use all diplomatic channels and whether through negotiation or retaliation, find a way to de-escalate this tariff in which we have become a collateral victim,” said Julia Leferman, secretary-general of Brewers of Europe.
Beer – alongside bourbon whiskey and fresh and frozen meat, fish, poultry and dairy – is one of the products the UK could look to place retaliatory tariffs on, if a trade agreement with the US is not agreed upon, the government revealed yesterday.
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