Ireland’s spirits sector will be “uniquely exposed” if the European Union (EU) fails to secure a deal on tariffs with the United States, two prominent drinks industry groups have warned.
The Irish Whiskey Association and Ibec’s Drinks Ireland said the current 10 per cent tariff on US drink imports from Europe is costing Irish drinks producers thousands of euro every week.
“This additional cost, coupled with a weakened dollar, is placing major pressure on the sector, and a swift resolution is required,” they said.
“The immediate cost implications, together with the deepening trade uncertainty, is negatively impacting markets and business for our distillers and drinks manufacturers throughout the country,” they said.
Irish drinks exports to the US are worth around €865 million a year. The US is the biggest export market for Irish whiskey. The Irish Whiskey Association says nearly 4.7 million, nine-litre cases of Irish whiskey were sold in the US in 2003.
While the industry here is led by brands such as Jameson in the Republic and Bushmills in Northern Ireland, there are more than 40 distilleries now scattered across the island.
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Both drinks groups want an immediate removal of all tariffs on EU and US spirits, “allowing a return to the tariff-free environment in which the spirits sector found such success”.
“From the introduction of zero-for-zero tariffs in 1997 until 2018 with the steel/aluminium dispute, the value of the spirits sector on both sides of the Atlantic experienced a growth of 450 per cent,” they said.
“The spirits sector in both the US and the EU remain interconnected. However, this period of uncertainty and heightened trade tensions put investments at risk,” they said.
Brussels is proposing to target €1.3 billion worth of US spirits, wine and beer as part of its retaliatory response to the blanket 10 per cent US tariff on all EU products.
