Trade Cases

Bourbon Producers Steel for Retaliatory Measures by EU

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.

bourbon threatened by Section 232 action 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.