WASHINGTON — Following the recent White House meeting with Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla, President Donald Trump announced Thursday his decision to eliminate specific tariffs on Scotch whisky imports.
Taking to social media, Trump declared: “The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!”
According to Trump’s announcement, the decision addresses longstanding requests from various stakeholders, particularly concerning the wooden barrels used for aging both Scotch whisky and bourbon.
The president has previously leveraged alcoholic beverages in his tariff strategy. He previously threatened European wine imports with a potential 200% tariff that would have significantly impacted French and Italian wine producers, though this threat was never implemented.
International partners have countered with their own tariff proposals targeting American bourbon and similar products.
During his previous term, the Trump administration chose to exclude cork from tariff measures, providing significant relief to Portugal, which dominates the global wine cork supply market.
The Distilled Spirits Council’s president and CEO, Chris Swonger, views Trump’s announcement as eliminating the 10% duty on British whisky imports.
“We applaud President Trump for working to restore a proven zero‑for‑zero model of fair, reciprocal trade between our two nations,” Swonger stated. “This action strengthens transatlantic ties, brings much‑needed certainty to our industry and allows spirits producers on both sides of the Atlantic to grow, invest and support jobs at a critical time.”
