Overview
- President Trump announced Thursday that he will remove tariffs and restrictions on whisky, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer later said the United States will allow preferential duty access for whisky produced in the United Kingdom.
- Industry groups and officials on both sides of the Atlantic welcomed the step, with Scotland’s first minister and spirits trade bodies saying lower costs should protect jobs and revive sales in the U.S., the Scotch sector’s top market by value.
- Early coverage flagged confusion over whether relief applied to finished bottles or inputs such as barrels, but Greer’s statement pointed to tariff cuts on the whisky itself as trade officials work through timing and paperwork.
- The change unwinds part of a 2025 framework that set a 10% U.S. tariff on many U.K. goods including Scotch, a policy the Scotch Whisky Association says drove a roughly 15% export drop and heavy losses last year.
- Trump publicly credited King Charles III and Queen Camilla for the shift, Buckingham Palace expressed gratitude, and both sides highlighted long-standing links between Scotland’s distillers and Kentucky’s bourbon makers, including the use of American oak barrels to age Scotch.