Canning beer — especially with modern sealants and coatings — keeps it fresher longer and makes it easier to ship. So the first reaction from most people when Donald Trump announced a 10% tariff on aluminum to go with his 25% tariff on steel was “here comes more expensive beer.” But not if the beer industry can help it.
The beer industry, both directly and via its lobbying group The Beer Institute, is not playing around with Trump and his tariffs. The CEO of the Beer Institute (and can we just marvel for a moment that’s an actual job?) Jim McGreevy, went on Fox Business to say it’s a tax on beer:
President Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports is a tax on U.S. consumers and will result in the loss of 20,000 jobs, says @beerinstitute CEO @jmcgreevyIII. https://t.co/DPYNlNe3A3 pic.twitter.com/PugdAxTrk8
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) March 5, 2018
McGreevy has noted here and elsewhere that this would cost the beer industry $347 million a year, and probably mean a cut of 20,000 jobs. This follows up beer producers themselves taking to social media to directly call out the President of the United States, joining Patagonia and GM as brands that have dunked on the supposed leader of the free world:
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)
— Molson Coors Beverage Company (@MolsonCoors) 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)
— Molson Coors Beverage Company (@MolsonCoors) 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)— Molson Coors Beverage Company (@MolsonCoors) March 1, 2018
And of course, if the big guys are complaining, you know the little guy is getting buried by this decision, as Brewbound reports:
During a Brewers Association webinar, industry consultant Bump Williams said canned offerings now account for 23 percent of total craft dollar sales. He added that sales of canned craft beer grew to nearly $1 billion last year. BA federal affairs manager Katie Marisic told Brewbound that aluminum cans account for more than a quarter of package production for BA-defined craft brewers last year. “Brewers that produce less than 10,000 barrels or are just getting started, do seem to trend toward canning as a method of packaging,” she said. “We have concerns that a price increase could be harmful.”
In other words, this tariff is going to ding everybody in the beer industry from the macro brew loyalist to the beer snob, the guys in the boardroom to the guys driving the trucks. And it appears the industry, and quite possibly its customers, are gearing up to fight.