Whisky is one of the most traded luxury goods in the world and one of the easiest to tax at the border, which makes it a favourite target in disputes that have nothing to do with it. Since 2018 Scotch and bourbon have been caught in arguments about steel, aircraft subsidies and the general direction of transatlantic politics, and the tariffs that resulted cost the two industries hundreds of millions in lost sales and reshaped where their whisky went. This piece is a timeline of what happened and an account of where things stand, which — given the subject — may have changed by the time you read it.
2018: bourbon and the steel dispute
The first blow fell on Kentucky. In June 2018 the United States imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the European Union, and the EU retaliated with a 25 per cent tariff on a list of American goods chosen for political effect: motorcycles, jeans, orange juice and bourbon. Bourbon was picked because Kentucky’s senior senator was the Senate majority leader; the aim was to make the tariff hurt in the right constituency. The United Kingdom, still in the EU, applied the same rate.
The effect on American whiskey exports to Europe, which had been growing fast, was immediate. By the industry’s own count, exports to the EU fell by around a fifth over the following two years, and the growth of American whiskey abroad — a decade-long story — stalled. The bourbon page and the Kentucky region page cover an industry that had been investing heavily in export capacity when the tariff landed.
2019: Scotch and the aircraft dispute
The second blow fell on Scotland. In October 2019 the United States, having won a World Trade Organization case over European subsidies to Airbus, imposed tariffs on a list of EU goods that included a 25 per cent duty on single malt Scotch whisky, single malt Irish whiskey from Northern Ireland, and liqueurs. Blended Scotch was excluded, which meant the tariff hit the premium end of the industry — the single malts covered on the single malt page — and left Johnnie Walker and Chivas Regal untouched.
The United States is the largest export market for Scotch by value. The Scotch Whisky Association estimated that the tariff cost the industry around £600 million in lost sales over the eighteen months it was in force, with single malt exports to the US falling by roughly a third. Small distilleries with a heavy American presence were hit hardest; large companies shifted volume to Asia and absorbed the margin.
2021: the suspensions
A change of administration in Washington and a desire on both sides to end the aircraft dispute produced a thaw. In March 2021 the United States and the United Kingdom agreed to suspend the Scotch tariff for four months while a settlement was negotiated, and in June 2021 the suspension was extended for five years as part of a broader resolution of the Airbus–Boeing case. The EU and US reached a similar deal. The EU suspended its bourbon tariff at the end of 2021, initially for two years and later extended to March 2025; the United Kingdom, now outside the EU, removed its own bourbon tariff in June 2022.
For about three years, whisky crossed the Atlantic duty-free in both directions, and exports recovered strongly. Scotch to the US rose back toward pre-tariff levels; American whiskey to Europe resumed growth. The suspensions were temporary, however, and everyone in the industry knew the clock was running.
2025: the tariffs return
The second Trump administration brought the tariffs back in a different form. In April 2025 the United States imposed so-called reciprocal tariffs on imports from nearly every trading partner, including a 10 per cent duty on goods from the United Kingdom, which caught all Scotch — blends as well as malts — for the first time. The rate on single malts was scheduled to rise to 25 per cent. The European Union, facing higher rates, drew up retaliation lists that once again included bourbon, at one point at 50 per cent, before pausing them during negotiations. A framework deal between the EU and US in the summer of 2025 set a 15 per cent US tariff on most EU goods, which caught Irish whiskey and Cognac, and left the spirits industry on both sides lobbying for a “zero-for-zero” exemption that had been the norm for decades.
The effect on Scotch was sharp. The Scotch Whisky Association reported that shipments to the United States fell by around 15 per cent between May and December 2025, even at 10 per cent, as importers held back orders and consumers at the margin traded down. For bourbon, the threat mattered as much as the rate: European distributors delayed commitments, and Kentucky’s export planning stalled again.
2026: the Scotch tariff lifted
In April 2026 King Charles III made a state visit to the United States, and in the weeks that followed the administration announced that the tariff on Scotch whisky would be removed, with effect from 24 July 2026, returning the trade to tariff-free terms. Scotland’s first minister described the result as a zero-for-zero regime. The industry welcomed it with evident relief and immediately asked for the same treatment for Irish whiskey, Cognac and the other EU spirits still subject to the 15 per cent rate, and American distillers asked for the reciprocal removal of any remaining European duties on their whiskey.
Where that leaves bourbon in Europe depends on the state of EU–US negotiations at the time of reading, and should be checked.
The industries’ own position
Through all of it, the Scotch and bourbon trade bodies have argued the same case: that spirits should be excluded from disputes about other goods, and that the “zero-for-zero” arrangement that governed transatlantic whisky trade from 1997 to 2018 — no tariffs in either direction — should be restored and made permanent. Their argument is that whisky tariffs are uniquely self-defeating. The Scotch industry depends on American oak casks and the bourbon industry depends on selling them; a tariff on one side raises costs on the other. Distillers on both sides employ people in politically sensitive rural constituencies. And the duty raised is trivial against the sales lost. Governments have listened, intermittently, and then found whisky too convenient a target to leave alone.
What the decade did
Four lasting effects.
Market diversification. Scotch producers, having been burned by dependence on the US, invested in India, China, Africa and Latin America, and the industry’s export map is more balanced than in 2018. Bourbon producers did the same in Asia.
Pricing. Tariffs were mostly absorbed by producers and importers rather than passed on in full, which squeezed margins at the premium end. Some of the price rises of 2022–24 in both categories were partly recovery of those margins.
Premiumisation. A 25 per cent tariff on a £30 bottle hurts more than on a £300 bottle. The tariff years accelerated the shift toward older, dearer single malts in the American market, which the whisky investment guide notes in passing.
Political attention. Whisky became a lobbying priority for both governments, with the result that the industry now has a seat at trade negotiations it did not have before. Whether that protects it next time is an open question.
Reading a price tag
For the drinker, tariffs are invisible on the label — our label guide covers what is there — and visible on the shelf. A bottle of single malt that cost $60 in New York in 2018 cost $75 in 2020 and $60 again in 2022; what it costs today reflects the latest round. Our reviews give an approximate price for each bottle, and for the US and EU markets, the trade pages are as useful as the tasting notes.
