The decision came days after King Charles III and Queen Camilla visited the White House, an appearance Trump highlighted as the catalyst for changing tariff policy on Scotch whisky. Speaking Thursday, Trump said removing the tariffs and restrictions would restart trade tied to the spirit’s production, including the wooden barrels used for aging.
Trump posted on social media that “The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!” He also said people had wanted the change, according to the wording of his announcement, particularly with regard to the wooden barrels in which Scotch and bourbon can be aged. In the statement, however, it was not immediately clear whether the tariff removal applied directly to bottles of Scotch or instead to the materials used to produce alcohol in both countries.
During a question-and-answer session in the Oval Office, Trump said the tariffs were lifted to specifically enhance trade of barrels between Scotland and Kentucky, where most of the world’s bourbon is produced. “I just took all the restrictions off so Scotland and Kentucky can start dealing again,” he said, adding that he is “not a big drinker.” The White House did not respond to emails seeking clarification about the details of what Trump announced, leaving room for different interpretations in Scotland and among industry lobbyists.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer later said in a Thursday statement that the U.S. would give “preferential duty access for whiskey produced in the United Kingdom.” The administration did not immediately respond to questions about whether “preferential duty access” meant fully eliminating the existing tariffs or lowering them instead.
In Scotland, John Swinney, the first minister, treated the announcement as a removal of tariffs on Scotch itself. Swinney called it a “tremendous success” and said the decision reflected jobs at stake, adding: “People’s jobs were at stake. Millions of pounds were being lost every month from the Scottish economy,” as he expressed gratitude to both Trump and King Charles III.
The tariff policy at issue traces to an October 2025 trade framework that set a 10% tax on most goods imported from Britain. The Scotch Whisky Association said its export volume to the U.S. fell 15% after tariffs were announced in April of the prior year, and industry representatives had been tracking the effect of that policy on U.S. sales.
Trump has previously used alcohol-linked tariffs as leverage in trade disputes, the article said. Last year, he threatened a 200% tariff on European wine—an approach that never came to fruition—and foreign countries responded with threats on bourbon and other U.S. products. The administration, in the past, also exempted cork from tariffs, a move that was described as a major relief to Portugal, which supplies much of the material used for wine bottle caps.