President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would remove tariffs on whiskey from the United Kingdom in a trade concession in honor of King Charles and Queen Camilla’s visit to the United States, ending a tariff standoff that producers in both countries said was hurting business.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the British royals “got me to do something that nobody else was able to do.”
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In a Thursday afternoon post on Truth Social, Trump said he planned to remove all “tariffs and restrictions” preventing the Scottish and Kentucky bourbon whiskey industries from working together, adding “people wanted to do this for a long time.”
The U.S. and U.K. signed a trade deal last May, which slashed certain levies on American cars and brought steel and aluminum tariffs down to 0%, but the deal maintained a baseline 10% tariff on most other goods.
Trump insisted the visit from the British royals “got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!”
Chris Swonger, the president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a trade group for the liquor industry in the U.S., said he was “thrilled” about the removal of the additional tariffs on whiskey, calling it a “major victory for American hospitality businesses that are deeply impacted by international trade.” In a press release on Thursday, Swonger said ending tariffs would bring “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.” Mark Kent, the chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association in the U.K., said producers would be able to “breathe a little easier” after the announcement. “We are hugely grateful for the sustained efforts on both sides of the Atlantic,” Kent said in a separate press release. “For months, many have worked tirelessly to return zero-for-zero tariff trade for whisky and bourbon.”
The remaining tariffs on whiskey were negatively impacting both the bourbon business in Kentucky and Scotch distillers in the U.K., producers told the New York Times last year. In his statement on Thursday, Kent said the two industries enjoyed a “special relationship,” and the U.S. remains the most valuable market for Scotch exports. The industry in Scotland also buys about $300 million of old bourbon casks per year, the Times reported last year.
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