Grabbing a cold one? Tariffs could make beer more expensive, breweries warn
Aluminum and grain tariffs are already hitting smaller breweries hard, and a new 50% fee could hit them even harder.
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A can of beer could cost you more because of President Donald Trump’s new tariff war with Canada, Connecticut breweries warned on Monday.
At Twelve Percent Beer Project in North Haven, the cans ship out by the case.
“It’s about a 20,000-barrel production facility,” said co-owner Bridget Blank. Each of the cans is made of aluminum. That’s a problem when it comes from Canada and the U.S. just got into a new trade war.
For now, Twelve Percent is not increasing prices.
“It’s not like we can say, ‘Okay, cans are 50 cents more expensive for every case, so we’re going to add that on,” Blank said. “When prices go up, we just have to kind of eat it.”
CANADA: CT'S BIGGEST TRADING PARTNER
Canada is Connecticut’s biggest trading partner. Twelve percent of the state’s exports go there, adding up to $7.6 billion in trade each year, according to Gov. Ned Lamont’s office.
Plus, a portion of Connecticut’s power comes from Quebec, complicating efforts to drive down electricity prices.
“Tariffs, at the end of the day, are taxes,” said Dustin Nord, director of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association Foundation for Economic Growth and Opportunity. “And leads to higher costs for businesses and consumers alike.”
Last week, the U.S. hit Canada with 50% tariffs on about $28 billion worth of exports. Canada is now promising retaliatory fees starting next week.
“You’re at war when you get attacked,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said. “We got attacked.”
BUY AMERICAN INSTEAD?
Trump has said it’s simple – buy American and avoid the Canadian tariffs.
“We want to make the cars here,” he said. “We don’t want them to make cars for the United States of America. It's very simple. Likewise, many other products."
Nord said using American suppliers may be possible for larger companies like Sikorsky or Pratt and Whitney. But for smaller companies like Twelve Percent, buying American is a lot harder than you think.
“There’s not an infinite number of people making aluminum cans. You know one of the biggest producers of aluminum cans is Ball. Ball will not work with somebody small like us,” Blank said. “We’re stuck with, again, the buying power we have as a small business, which isn’t a lot.”
