US tariffs are uniting Scotch and bourbon

Distillers lose in both sides of the Atlantic

- ESHE NELSON

When Chris Swonger, a leader in the US spirits industry, heard that President Donald Trump would be visiting his golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, this summer, he knew he needed to be there, too.

He had a seemingly counterintuitive request: zero tariffs on Scotch whisky imported into the United States.

For American whiskey producers, dominated by Kentucky's bourbon industry, the prospect of higher prices for Scotch caused by tariffs has not been seen as an opportunity to edge out competition. The whiskey business has an interconnected, Atlantic-spanning relationship, they say, and both sides stand to lose.

"Our industry has thrived because we are so closely intertwined together," said Mr Swonger, the head of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. The tariffs on British spirits "would be detrimental to the US economy and be detrimental to US consumers," he added.

In recent months, Trump has pushed to rewrite global trade and impose tariffs that he expects will raise trillions of dollars in revenue and increase American jobs. But some industries fear that the levies will lead to job losses, as tariffs unravel a complex web of supply chains, which economists expect to slow US economic growth.

In May, Britain became the first country to announce a trade agreement with the United States, which lowered tariffs on British cars and airplane parts.