A new trade deal between the United Kingdom and India risks undermining U.S. whiskey exports to India just several months after the industry celebrated improved market access.
The U.K. and India announced last week that the two sides reached a trade deal after three years of negotiations. As part of those talks, U.K. negotiators secured tariff reductions for Scotch whisky from 150% to 75%.
“The U.K.’s trade agreement with India would place American whiskeys at a competitive disadvantage,” Lisa Hawkins, chief of communications and public affairs for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, told Agri-Pulse in an email.
The U.S. secured its own tariff reductions in February when the Indian government dropped the tariff on bottled bourbon from 150% to 100%, giving U.S. exporters a tariff advantage over scotch in the Indian market. That advantage has proven to be short-lived, however.
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“We continue to seek the U.S. government’s support to build on the positive momentum of the tariff reduction on bottled bourbon,” Hawkins said. She added that she would rather see all U.S. spirits exports to India compete on a “zero-for-zero” tariff level.
Notably, bulk bourbon and other U.S. spirits still face the 150% tariff rate and did not receive reductions alongside bottled bourbon.
Such an arrangement, Hawkins said, would “ensure American spirits are not at a competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis U.K. distilled spirits.”
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