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U.S. whiskey exporters struggle after year of EU tariffs -
Foreign governments subject to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs have targeted American distilleries and their bourbon and rye whiskeys for retaliation. The industry fears new tariffs under consideration by the U.S. government could result in even higher tariffs on their products in Europe.
“We went from a marginally profitable business to breaking even,” Mountain Laurel’s owner and chemical engineer-turned-distiller, Herman Mihalich, said while testing his latest batch of rye whiskey in the sleepy hamlet of Bristol in southeast Pennsylvania.
U.S. whiskey exporters are struggling to recoup lost sales after shipments to Europe plummeted 21% between June 2018 and 2019, according to data from the Distilled Spirits Council, a U.S. industry group.
In the 12 months before the tariffs hit, the United States exported $757 million of rye and bourbon. From July 2018 to June 2019 exports were $597 million. Exports are a sizeable chunk of sales the U.S. whiskey industry, which generated $3.6 billion in revenue in 2018.
The Distilled Spirits Council said that 63% of U.S. whiskey exports have faced retaliatory tariffs from the European Union, China, Turkey, Canada and Mexico. The EU currently levies 25% tariffs on U.S. whiskey.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office is preparing to slap tariffs of up to 100% on $1.8 billion worth of European spirits and wine in response to illegal European aid to planemaker Airbus (AIR.PA), the most recent development in a 15-year-long trade dispute between Europe and the United States.
“American whiskeys have become collateral damage,” said Chris Swonger, chief executive of the Distilled Spirits Council at an Aug. 6 hearing with the U.S. Trade Representative. He urged Washington not to introduce the new tariffs because the industry fears Europe will introduce even more tariffs in retaliation.
The group said that at least 11,200 to 78,600 jobs could be lost in the beverage, alcohol and hospitality sectors, which currently employ 2.4 million Americans, if the EU-U.S.-conflict worsened.
WHISKEY BOOM ENDING
The tariff war is capping a boom for U.S whiskey despite a surge in global demand for traditionally made spirits and cocktails. The Kentucky Distillers Association said that the production of Kentucky bourbon, a popular variety of U.S. whiskey, in 2018 reached its highest level - 1.7 million barrels - since 1972.
At the Aug. 6 hearing, Swonger testified that many of the Distilled Spirits Council’s members, including exporting businesses from 45 U.S. states, have halted hiring and expansion plans and seen margins take a hit because of the tariffs.
(via shad0ww0rdpain)
Cannibal Apocalypse
'What If They Want You Dead?' Oregon Leftists Bear Arms In Self-Defense -
Eliot has been a leftist activist in the Pacific Northwest and proponent of armed self-defense since the 1990s.
He said his philosophy is informed by his early experience as an activist in Seattle.
“It was just sort of the standard procedure that you should know about labor history, you should know about working-class issues,” he said. “And it would be expected that you would also know how to use a rifle.”
Eliot said spontaneous violence is a serious concern at demonstrations like the Women’s March. He pointed to the white supremacist who stabbed two men on a Portland train in 2017 and the neo-Nazi who killed someone when he drove his car into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville.
(Source: opb.org, via )
