Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 24, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUS spirits exports grew 10% in 2024, driven by EU demand, amid fears of 2025 tariffs on American Whiskeys. Trade disputes continue to impact sales.
By Ananya Mariam Rajesh
(Reuters) -U.S. spirits exports rose 10% in 2024 to $2.4 billion, according to a report by Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), driven by a surge in supply to the European Union, the biggest export market.
The rise last year came amid fears of the potential return of tariffs on American Whiskeys in 2025, the report added.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
The recent trade war tied to U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policy has sparked fears of retaliatory tariffs by the EU, potentially driving prices for U.S. distillers and whiskey makers and adding uncertainty to the 2025 outlook for U.S. spirit exports.
CONTEXT
In April, Trump abruptly paused part of his tariff implementations for 90 days, including on the EU, which was planning to slap the U.S. with further tariffs, allowing room to negotiate lower trade barriers and halting an escalation of the global trade war.
Trump's pause does not apply to the 25% tariffs that he levied on steel and aluminum in March and on autos that started on April 3.
The U.S. President was looking to impose "reciprocal" tariffs of 20% for almost all other goods, affecting about 70% of the EU's exports to the United States.
KEY QUOTES
"Unfortunately, ongoing trade disputes unrelated to our sector have caused uncertainty, keeping many U.S. distillers on the sidelines and curtailing sales growth," said DISCUS President and CEO Chris Swonger.
"The EU's recent decision not to reimpose a retaliatory tariff on American whiskeys and other U.S. spirits is a positive first step toward getting the U.S.-EU spirits sectors back to zero-for-zero tariffs and untangling spirits from these trade disputes," he added.
BY THE NUMBERS
Since the tariffs were suspended in 2022 for three years, American whiskey exports to the EU surged nearly 60% to $699 million in 2024, from $439 million in 2021, according to the Council.
However, American whiskey, which accounted for 54% of all U.S. spirits exports in 2024, fell 5.4% to $1.3 billion.
(Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
The article discusses the 10% rise in US spirits exports in 2024 amid fears of tariffs on American Whiskeys in 2025.
How have trade disputes affected US spirits exports? Ongoing trade disputes have caused uncertainty and impacted sales growth.
What is the significance of the EU market? The EU is the largest export market for US spirits, driving significant growth.
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