Beer Companies Say Trump’s Aluminum Tariff Will Raise Prices And Hurt The Industry
President Donald Trump announced a new tariff Thursday that beer producers and other beverage companies say will drive up their production costs by more than $250 million annually.
Slated to go into effect next week, the tariff imposes a 25 percent tax on all foreign imports of steel and a 10 percent tax on foreign imports of aluminum. It’s intended to encourage U.S. production of those materials, but beverage companies that produce canned drinks say such a high aluminum tariff will deal their industry a blow.
MillerCoors, one of the U.S.’s largest beer producers, released a three-part statement on Twitter shortly after Trump’s announcement. The tariff will likely force MillerCoors and other beer companies to lay off workers, it said, hinting that the cost would be passed on to consumers.
MillerCoors statement: We are disappointed with President Trump’s announcement of a 10% tariff on aluminum. While we won’t know the details for a week, the Department of Defense recently reported that aluminum does not cause any national security issues. (1/3)
— MillerCoors (@MillerCoors) March 1, 2018
Like most brewers, we are selling an increasing amount of our beers in aluminum cans, and this action will cause aluminum prices to rise. It is likely to lead to job losses across the beer industry. (2/3)
— MillerCoors (@MillerCoors) March 1, 2018
We buy as much domestic can sheet aluminum as is available, however, there simply isn’t enough supply to satisfy the demands of American beverage makers like us. American workers and American consumers will suffer as a result of
this misguided tariff. (3/3)— MillerCoors (@MillerCoors) March 1, 2018
Khawaja Mamun, chair of the business and economics department at Sacred Heart University, said the beverage industry isn’t exaggerating the likely negative effects of the new tariffs.
“The tariffs will benefit steel and aluminum producers ― the people who actually make it ― but the people who use steel and aluminum to make other products will get hurt,” Mamun told HuffPost.
He also predicted “the price increases are going to hurt consumers,” noting that “if a beer company has to raise prices to match demand, consumer demand will be reduced as the product gets more expensive.”
Mamun said it’s certainly possible that beer companies will lose hundreds of millions of dollars and shed jobs, as MillerCoors argues.
“Yes, surely [they will lose money],” he said. “Any policy helps one group and harms the other group. In this case, the harm will outweigh the benefit as a total.”
Several beverage companies, including MillerCoors’ parent company Molson Coors, signed a letter to Trump early last month urging him not to place a tariff on aluminum imports, particularly the types known as cansheet, primary aluminum and scrap.
“A tariff or quota will immediately disadvantage these domestic businesses since foreign competitors would have the advantage of not paying an artificially inflated raw cost,” the letter read. “We estimate a tariff of 10 percent on this aluminum would cost beer and beverage producers $256.3 million, a 20 percent tariff would cost $512.5 million and a 30 percent tariff would run $768.8 million.”
The letter was cosigned by more than a dozen companies and industry groups, including the Can Manufacturers’ Institute, Heineken and Coca-Cola.
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No. 7 Louisville
The Kentucky city’s brewing history dates back the late 1800s, when German immigrants created a local beer style—dark and kinda tart—called the Kentucky Common. You can taste its modern cousin at Bluegrass Brewing Company, which does both a Kentucky Common Ale as well as the lighter Billies Uncommon Sour Ale. At another local brewery, GoodWood, the beers nod to the other local drink, by creating a number of bourbon-barrel-aged ales and stouts, along with a Red Wine Barrel Saison to appeal to oenophiles. As proof of the city’s solid rankings for live music and quirky locals, the GoodWood taproom offers both regular “jam session” performances and yoga classes.
Photo: © Clarence Holmes Photography / Alamy
No. 6 Providence
The Rhode Island capital makes the top 10 in several food-and-drink categories thanks to its flair for super-local flavor—from sweet coffee milk to the iconoclastic grilled pizza. The beer scene is no different: Trinity Brewhouse makes a point of using water from the Scituate Reservoir, and Narragansett makes its shandy with the cooperation of frozen-lemonade stand and local institution Del’s. Providence also won the silver medal this year for burgers: for a good representative, try the Hereford beef mini burgers at Harry’s Bar & Burger, which has an exhaustive beer menu and the motto of “no crap on tap.”
Photo: iStockphoto
No. 5 Houston
Perhaps due to those hot summers, Houston made the survey’s top 10 for three liquid refreshments (the others: wine and coffee). And while many respectable Texas bars pride themselves on offering hydration in the form of Lone Star from a can, Houston craft beer lovers are loyal to Saint Arnold Brewing Co., the state’s oldest craft brewer, which sits in a 100-year-old warehouse with a biergarten, on the edge of downtown. Newer entries include Buffalo Bayou Brewery, whose 1836 copper ale is named for the year of the city’s founding, and 8th Wonder Brewery, which is named after the city’s iconic Astrodome and which produces seasonal selections—like a Vietnamese-coffee-infused Porter called Rocket Fuel—in a dome-like warehouse near the Astros’ home turf.
Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images
No. 4 Cleveland
Readers’ love of beer seems to be tightly entwined with their love of comfort food in this Rust Belt City, which also ranked highly for burgers, sandwiches, and diners. Great Lakes Brewing Company (which started in the 1980s) is most beer geeks’ first stop, where you can try the Lake Erie Monster IPA or the Nosferatu Imperial Red Ale, paired with sausages and pierogis. Next, downtown’s Butcher and the Brewer combines artisan charcuterie (like duck mortadella or smoked braunschweiger) with rich beers, like a Stuffed French Toast Milk Stout. At Market Garden Brewery, you can pair a Progress Pilsner with a polish sausage and still more pierogis on the patio neighboring the historic West Side Market—a big reason why Cleveland also ranked at No. 10 for its food halls.
Photo: © Ian Dagnall / Alamy
No. 3 Minneapolis/St. Paul
Despite the threatening-sounding names of two top craft brewers in the Twin Cities—Dangerous Man Brewing Co. and Surly Brewing—Minneapolis and St. Paul also ranked at No. 3 in the survey for their friendly atmosphere. Indeed, the Fair State Brewing Co-op is the first of its kind in Minnesota: members get to collaborate on new beer projects, while non-members can just enjoy brews in the taproom–like the Läctobäc 6, a tribute to Central European Lichtenhainers. At St. Paul gastropub The Happy Gnome, meanwhile, beginning beer geeks get an in-depth, user-friendly menu (with headings like “Looking for Something Sour and Funky?”), and the dessert menu features a Surly Coffee Bender Crème Brûlée.
Photo: iStockphoto
No. 2 Kansas City
As the survey’s No. 1 city for both barbecue and good value, Kansas City has a lock on affordable luxuries—a perfect setting for excellent beer. Boulevard Brewing Co. continues to be the reigning local brew, though beer tourists will also want to try new contenders like Torn Label, Cinder Block, or Big Rip. (At Big Rip, if you ride your bike to the brewery on a Sunday, you get a discounted drink.) To taste a variety of local beers alongside Kansas City’s sports fans (who also won the survey’s silver medal), go to Craft & Draft, a beer bar inside Kauffman Stadium that takes the “beer-here” experience up a notch.
Photo is courtesy of Boulevard Brewing Co.
No. 1 Portland
With the most local breweries of any city in the world—more than 80, at last count—Portland wins the survey again this year, for both quantity and its richly beer-infused culture. Longtime favorite beermaker McMenamins, for instance, makes beer, operates hotels (like The Kennedy School), and even roasts coffee beans—another category Portland won this year. The latest additions to the city’s beerscape include a new Commons Brewery tasting room (in the Portland Central Eastside Industrial District) and Culmination Brewing, on the East Side, which does Old-World-style beers that emphasize malt and yeast more than hops. To get a thorough feel for the Oregon beer scene, go to the just-opened beer bar Loyal Legion (named for an old loggers’ union), which boasts having the largest selection of Oregon beers on tap anywhere. Making it easy to enjoy beer responsibly, Portland also ranked at No. 1 for being pedestrian-friendly.
Photo: © Brain Jannsen / Alamy
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