American Spirits Exports Set a Record $2.4 Billion in Sales in 2024
As we’ve recently reported, Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff threats have made the American spirits industry very nervous, and there’s precedent as to what the effects might be from his first term in office and the negative impact tariffs had then. Some good news for the industry just arrived in the Distilled Spirits Council’s new report which said that 2024 set a record for American spirits exports, but 2025 could be a very different year.
DISCUS released its American Spirits Export report earlier this week, and it said that U.S. spirits exports reached reached a record high of $2.4 billion in 2024, which was a 10 percent increase from 2023’s numbers. That was driven by a nearly 40 percent increase in exports to the European Union, although there was a 10 percent decrease in exports to the rest of the world. Ironically, the increase in exports to the E.U. were driven by fears of the return of tariffs in 2025, which increasingly seems like a reality. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, the E.U. imposed a 25 percent tariff on American whiskey in response to his tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum. Exports fell by 20 percent over the next few years, the equivalent of over $100 million, and Trump issued another retaliatory tariff on scotch whisky to the tune of 20 percent.
The Biden administration came to an agreement with the E.U. and the tariffs were suspended in December of 2023, but that suspension expired in March and since then there has been a back and forth of threats and pauses that have left the industry feeling more than a little bit uneasy. According to DISCUS, exports of American whiskey to the E.U. were up nearly 60 percent since the suspension, equaling nearly $700 million in 2024, but this year could be an entirely different story. “Ongoing trade disputes unrelated to our sector have caused uncertainty, keeping many U.S. distillers on the sidelines and curtailing sales growth,” said DISCUS president and CEO Chris Swonger in a statement. “The E.U.’s recent decision not to reimpose a retaliatory tariff on American whiskeys and other U.S. spirits is a positive first step toward getting the U.S.-E.U. spirits sectors back to zero-for-zero tariffs and untangling spirits from these trade disputes.”
Swonger went on to say that the outlook for 2025 remains hard to predict because of the ongoing trade disputes. For example, Canada, the second largest market for U.S. spirits exports after the E.U., imposed a 25 percent tariff on all American spirits that began on March 13, and nearly all Canadian provinces have banished American booze from store shelves. That sounds almost nice compared the the 160 percent retaliatory tariff imposed by China on American spirits, and the 70 percent issued by Turkey (a small market, but still). Swonger points to the Trump administration’s work to reduce India’s tariff on bourbon from 150 to 100 percent, which is still pretty high, and hopes that the president can continue to negotiate with other countries to reduce it to “zero-for-zero.” We will continue to update you on this situation as it unfolds.
