US whiskey makers about to get soaked by higher tariffs

President Trump’s lingering trade wars are about to soak American whiskey makers even as the rest of the US booze industry celebrates a recent lifting of tariffs on wine, vodka and rum.

Major US whiskey brands — from Woodford Reserve to Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark — have been on the rocks since 2018 over massive 25 percent tariffs imposed on their sales to Europe and the United Kingdom — thanks to a Trump-era war on steel and aluminum imports. Now, even as the Biden administration works to rebuild US trade relations with Europe and the UK, tariffs on US whiskeys are poised to double on June 1 to 50 percent. Distillers say their sales to Europe, a key market for whiskey, will be put on ice indefinitely if that happens.