AP: Tariffs Threaten Craft Beer

Canada is the top foreign market for U.S. craft beer, accounting for almost 38% of exports.

March 31, 2025

America’s craft brewers are facing a new challenge: President Donald Trump’s tariffs, including levies of 25% on imported steel and aluminum and on goods from Canada and Mexico, reported the Associated Press.

The tariffs, some of which have been suspended until April 2, could impact brewers in ways big and small, Bart Watson, president and CEO of the Brewers Association, the trade group for craft beer, told AP. The tariffs could impact prices for aluminum cans, and nearly all the steel kegs used by U.S. brewers are made in Germany, so a tariff on finished steel products raises the cost of kegs. Tariffs on Canadian products like barley and malt would also increase costs. And some brewers depend on raspberries and other fruit from Mexico, Watson said.

For Port City Brewing in Alexandria, Virginia, the biggest threat comes from the looming tariff on Canadian imports, said founder Bill Butcher. Every three weeks, the brewery receives a 40,000-pound truckload of pilsner malt from Canada, which goes into a 55,000-pound silo on the brewery’s grounds. Butcher said he can’t find malt of comparable quality anywhere else.

Trump’s tariffs also hit Port City in a round-about way, Butcher said: The levy on aluminum, which went into effect March 12, is causing big brewers to switch from aluminum cans to bottles, said AP. Port City, which bottles 70% of its beer, found itself unable to get bottles.

“Our bottle supplier is cutting us off at the end of the month,” Butcher said. “That caught us by surprise.”

In Arizona, some brewers are already eliminating or reducing the beers they offer in aluminum cans to cut costs, said Cale Aylsworth, the director of sales and relations at O.H.S.O. Brewery and Distillery and president of the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild.

“Some brewers have also lost access to store shelves from one big customer: Canada, which is the top foreign market for U.S. craft beer, accounting for almost 38% of exports. But Canadians are furious that Trump targeted their products, and Canadian importers have been cancelling orders and pulling U.S. beer off store shelves,” wrote AP.

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