From The Brewers Association:
Today the Trump Administration said it’s imposing a 25% tariff on all canned imported beer and empty aluminum cans, not just those from Mexico and Canada, per a Federal Register notice from the U.S. Department of Commerce filed hours before the President’s announcements. This document updated Administration’s initial Feb 10 notice on aluminum tariffs and is slated to go into effect on Friday, Apr 4 “effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption.”
Cans are under 40% of imported beer, 38.5% in 2024 or 16.1 million barrels, according to U.S. Department of Commerce data published by the Beer Institute. Bottles were 23.56 million barrels and 56.4% of imports. And draft at 2.15 million barrels, 5.1% of the mix. At today’s press conference, President Trump also announced 10% baseline tariff on all imports coming into the U.S. and 20% on goods from the EU. Unclear if those will be in addition to aluminum tariffs that came out earlier or how they’ll play out on bottles and draft. The confusion continues at press time.
In the updated notice, both “beer” and “empty aluminum cans” were added to a list of derivative products subject to sweeping 25% aluminum tariffs that went into effect last month. But it lists only the tariff code for beer made from malt and “makes no mention of a subordinate code for beer imports in glass containers,” Reuters points out. Any way you slice it, the tariffs will mark a big extra expense for imports and a competitive shift in favor of beer brewed in U.S.
Constellation is the primary player in the crosshairs as it accounts for 72% of all imported beer, NA beer, FMBs and hard cider. But the impact on beer suppliers stretches well beyond North America. Major importers like Heineken and Diageo are now also sent scrambling to implement contingency plans. Beer imports exceeded $7.5 billion in 2024, per U.S. Census Bureau data, with Mexico being the vast majority at $6.3 billion followed by Netherlands ($683 mil), Ireland ($192 mil), and Canada ($73 mil).
With the overarching cost increase on aluminum, domestic suppliers could also see overall input costs increase, albeit to a lesser degree. Spirits and wine will also take tariff hit, though the magnitude remains to be seen. But as America braces for retaliatory blow-back, duration of tariffs will surely be subject of further discussions. Many other important questions quickly arise. Will import suppliers eat tariffs or raise prices and pass increased cost on to consumers? How much beer have importers already shipped into America in preparation for this day? What will be the marketplace effect of the tariffs? Stay tuned.
Addendum: Brewers Association analysis of the notice suggests that the tariffs will apply to all imported beer, not just canned beer.
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