Distilled Spirits Council President and CEO Chris Swonger Statement in Response to the U.S.-EU Trade Agreement
“This is great news for U.S. and EU relations and we greatly appreciate President Trump’s leadership. We are optimistic that in the days ahead this positive meeting and agreement will lead to a return to zero-for-zero tariffs for U.S. and EU spirits products, which will benefit not only our nation’s distillers, but also the American workers and farmers who support them from grain to glass.
“For more than 20 years, large and small distilleries across the U.S. have flourished under a tariff-free relationship with the EU, our largest export market. It’s time to get back to toasts not tariffs.”
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Background:
- Due to the imposition of the EU’s retaliatory tariff in 2018, American Whiskey exports to the EU, the largest American Whiskey export market, plunged 20%, from $552 million to $440 million (2018-2021).
- Since the tariffs were suspended in 2022, American Whiskey exports to the EU surged nearly 60%, climbing from $439 million in 2021 to $699 million in 2024.