{"id":39625,"date":"2025-03-12T04:13:24","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T09:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=39625"},"modified":"2025-03-12T04:13:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T09:13:27","slug":"bourbon-industry-in-crosshairs-of-u-s-canada-trade-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=39625","title":{"rendered":"Bourbon industry in crosshairs of U.S.-Canada trade war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LOUISVILLE, Ky. \u2014 Distilleries in the heart of America’s bourbon industry are finding themselves in the crosshairs of a brewing trade war between the U.S. and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alcohol made in the U.S. is being removed from store shelves in Canada in retaliation for tariffs placed on its products by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also leading to canceled shipment orders and stalled liquor agreements with potential trading partners, some Kentucky bourbon businesses say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family-owned Michter\u2019s Distillery in Louisville <\/strong>has already lost $115,000 in canceled bourbon shipment orders to Canada, its largest foreign market as liquor stores in most Canadian provinces have been asked to remove products from their shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the reality of it,\u201d said Andrea Wilson, chief operating officer of Michter\u2019s. \u201cWe would prefer to see less tariffs than more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, Trump announced a 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada and Mexico \u2014 two of the country\u2019s largest trade partners \u2014 before postponing it amid trepidation of a broader trade war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday<\/a>, Trump amplified his tough tariff talk, saying he would double the tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum imported from Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The threat came one day after Ontario\u2019s premier<\/a>, the leader of Canada\u2019s most populous province, announced it would charge 25% more for electricity to 1.5 million Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kentucky\u2019s bourbon industry pours about $9 billion into the local economy annually, according to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state produces about 95% of the bourbon sold in the world, the association estimates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While data on the tariffs\u2019 effects is unavailable, U.S. consumers likely won’t see a price increase on bourbon for at least a few months, said Marten Lodewijks, president of the U.S. division of the beverage industry data firm IWSR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Kentucky distilleries could feel an immediate pinch if some of their shipments to Canada are being cancelled, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilson said she fears her business could face further losses if the tariff war continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re not selling to our largest export market, that\u2019s a significant impact to our business, and it\u2019s very sad for us, because we have friends, we\u2019ve built relationships in that country for a long time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black-owned Brough Brothers Distillery in Louisville is having its own set of problems caused by the tariff war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company was in the midst of negotiating to sell its products in Canada for the first time, but discussions abruptly ended when the trade war started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal fell through \u201cas soon as the tariffs were announced,\u201d CEO Victor Yarbrough said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLiterally, we\u2019re in the middle of expansion. Everything\u2019s been suspended, they don\u2019t have the ability to purchase,\u201d Yarbrough said, adding his plans for 2025 were to also ship alcohol to France and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now he\u2019s considering sending his products to South Africa or Brazil, but Canada would have been the bigger market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just like, how can we help get back to square one? How can we facilitate good, neighborly, you know, relationships that we\u2019ve been having?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fawn Weaver, founder of Black-owned Tennessee whiskey brand Uncle Nearest, had her alcohol products pulled off the shelves in Canada, but said she was already bracing for the fallout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weaver, who contends a tariff war could be predicted during the presidential campaign, said the tariffs mean her business can\u2019t be as aggressive in the global market for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs an independent brand, I can\u2019t afford those tariffs. I can\u2019t afford to absorb it, and I can\u2019t pass it on to the consumers,\u201d she said. \u201cIt could be argued that this is exactly what the current administration wants \u2014 for all of us to bring in our business in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u201cWe already knew coming into this, Trump was very clear in what he was going to do, even though we didn\u2019t know where the tariffs would hit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOUISVILLE, Ky. \u2014 Distilleries in the heart of America’s bourbon industry are finding themselves in the crosshairs of a brewing trade war between the U.S. and Canada. Alcohol made in the U.S. is being removed from store shelves in Canada in retaliation for tariffs placed on its products by the Trump administration. It’s also leading […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":39626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1155],"tags":[32655,32657,3616,32656],"class_list":["post-39625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bourbon-whiskey","tag-distilleries","tag-tariffs","tag-trade-wars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39627,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39625\/revisions\/39627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}