US spirits exports hit a record high in 2024. Tariffs could destroy that

New York
CNN
 — 

Exports of American-made spirits hit a record high last year. However, a hangover is about to hit the industry as tariffs threaten to stunt growth, a leading industry group warned.

Exports hit a record $2.4 billion in 2024, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS). In a report released Thursday, the trade group said that last year’s growth is thanks to a rebuilt trading relationship between the US and the European Union. Exports to the EU jumped 39% in 2024 compared to a year prior — a gain put in peril by President Donald Trump’s trade war.

“Unfortunately, ongoing trade disputes unrelated to our sector have caused uncertainty, keeping many US distillers on the sidelines and curtailing sales growth,” said DISCUS President and CEO Chris Swonger in a release.

American-made whiskey in particular stands in the crosshairs of the trade dispute. The EU had removed tariffs on US whiskey in 2022. Since then, exports from the US to the EU have jumped nearly 60% to $699 million, according to data compiled by DISCUS.

The EU was set to levy new tariffs on American whiskey this month, but delayed them after Trump announced a 90-day pause on the so-called retaliatory tariffs against most other nations. Swonger called the pause a “positive first step toward getting the US-EU spirits sectors back to zero-for-zero tariffs and untangling spirits from these trade disputes.”

EU tariffs would be a major blow for American distillers and spirits makers. The bloc is the largest export market for US-made spirits, accounting for about half of all US spirits exports, worth $1.2 billion last year, DISCUS said.

But it’s not just the EU. Canada is the second-largest recipient of US-made spirits, totaling $221 million last year. Canada’s 25% retaliatory tariff on all US spirits that began last month, and the subsequent removal of many American brands from Canadian liquor stores, is causing uncertainty in this year’s outlook with the country, DISCUS said.

Tariffs aren’t the only problem major spirits makers are dealing with. A decrease in demand following a pandemic-induced boom caused US exports of spirits to the rest of the world to drop by nearly 10%, DISCUS said.

That has resulted in layoffs at major distillers, such as at Woodford Reserve and Jack Daniel’s parent company Brown-Forman, and bankruptcies, including Westward Whiskey, a Diageo-backed distillery based in Oregon.

Despite the recent weakness, sales of US spirits have generally grown over the past two-and-a-half decades. Exports have jumped to $2.4 billion in 2024 from $478 million in 2000.

In its report, DISCUS attributed this jump in part to the US spirits sector “having a fair and reciprocal playing field with 51 countries that have provided tariff-free access for US spirits,” including the EU, Canada and Mexico.