Trade Cases

Bourbon Producers Steel for Retaliatory Measures by EU
Written by Sandy Williams
July 10, 2017
U.S. bourbon exports are on the table for a retaliatory tax should Section 232 cut off EU steel exports. Bourbon, made almost exclusively in Kentucky, accounted for 20 percent of the $654 million of U.S. spirits sold to the European Union in 2016, according to a recent article in The Guardian.
Officials confirmed that U.S. whiskey exports are among the products targeted for a potential retaliatory response by the EU. At the G20 meetings last week, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU would act within days against U.S. agricultural exports if import tariffs are imposed on steel from the European Union.
Bourbon, by Congressional declaration, can only be manufactured in the United States. The industry in Kentucky brings in $166 million in tax revenue for the state annually and employs nearly 17,500 people, according to the Kentucky Distillers Association.
Susan Reigler, president of the Bourbon Women Association, told The Guardian that the industry will be harmed if the whiskey exports are targeted by the EU. “It’s not just the people who work in the distilleries, or the bottling plants, but also people like the grain farmers and the truckers who transport it,” she said.
“Global markets are increasingly important to our signature industry, and we have worked hard over the past decade to open doors, level the playing field and eliminate discriminatory tariffs and policies that would put Kentucky bourbon at a competitive disadvantage,” said Eric Gregory, president of KDA.
Kentucky is home to Republican U.S. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and supported Trump with a 62.5 percent vote in the election.

Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Trade Cases

US and Canada expect positive outcomes from tariff negotiations
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that they’ll be formulating a trade deal that works for both nations.

Leibowitz: When the shutdown should end
There is no doubt that the current government shutdown reflects the vast divisions between the extremes of American politics, society, and even geography. Almost all Americans agree that government is necessary, but voters disagree...

Price: The U.S. Steel shutdown that wasn’t and a call to stop ‘valuation cheating’
How can the U.S. government block U.S. Steel’s Granite City rolling mill closure without harming other American steelmakers? Reducing imports should be the first step. Foreign producers continue to aggressively target the U.S. market, especially now as they find themselves displaced by Chinese exports.

US steel industry applauds ITC final determination in coated trade case
Domestic mills praised the US International Trade Commission’s (ITC's) final determination that imports of corrosion-resistant (CORE) steel from 10 countries pose a threat to them.

ITC’s final ruling: Dumped, subsidized CORE imports are harming domestic market
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) finds that corrosion resistant steel (CORE) imports from 10 countries have caused material damage to domestic product producers, according to the ITC’s statement.