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Economy
U.S. Beer Industry Blames Trump Tariffs for 40,000 Job Losses
2019-05-25
[Yahoo] The U.S. beer industry is blaming a jobs hangover on the Trump administration’s tariffs.

A report by two trade groups showed U.S. beer-industry jobs dropped 40,000 since 2016 as metal tariffs boosted aluminum-can costs, leading to a drop in investment. The biennial study by the Beer Institute and National Beer Wholesalers Association said direct, indirect and induced jobs fell to 2.19 million in 2018 from 2.23 million in 2016.

The shipping and logistics charge for delivering aluminum to the U.S. Midwest, known as the “premium,” more than doubled as Trump slapped a 10% tariff on imports of the metal. Molson Coors Brewing Co. estimated last year that the levies would create a $40 million hit to its bottom line.

Still, tariffs may not be the only thing hurting employment in the industry. Total cases of beer, wine and spirits consumed in the U.S. dropped 0.8% in 2018, the third consecutive year of declined, according to a report from IWSR, which studies the beverage market. The main culprit is the beer slump, with consumption down 1.5% as more drinkers gravitated to spirits and wine.
Posted by:Skidmark

#25  No job losses in my neighborhood: http://www.brewdoun.com/active-list-loudoun-county-breweries-distilleries-cideries/

There are ~37 breweries in my county.
Posted by: Airandee   2019-05-25 21:43  

#24  Little tip for home moonshiners, save a quart of your best. Toast a nice piece of oak (your choice of wood) and insert into your favorite mason jar. Date and store.

Gonna have to try that
Posted by: DarthVader   2019-05-25 20:52  

#23  Drink yer beer out of Ford pickups!
Posted by: Skidmark   2019-05-25 20:40  

#22  I blame Trump for the continuation of me brewing my own delicious home brewed beer.

Geeze Darth you made me blow foam out the nose. Hoot!

We took the path of home distilling. The last batch of banana rum was about the best.

Little tip for home moonshiners, save a quart of your best. Toast a nice piece of oak (your choice of wood) and insert into your favorite mason jar. Date and store.
Posted by: Woodrow   2019-05-25 20:21  

#21  I gave up on Bud products 40 years ago.

If you're a beer drinker there are much better brews than the mass market swill.

All the reasons have been touched on in the comments. There is no one reason.
Posted by: AlanC   2019-05-25 16:51  

#20  Boddingtons, pub ale, not for the parsimonious at 8 bucks a four pack but worth it.
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2019-05-25 15:08  

#19  Men in the US were drinking too much anyway.
Posted by: Dron66046   2019-05-25 13:50  

#18  So tetrapack the fucking thing, or go back to glass bottles. Can't change the President for a few thousand moonshiners now can we ?
Posted by: Dron66046   2019-05-25 13:47  

#17  Last point, IT's ALL TRUMPS FAULT, I forgot that point. No matter what the truth is.
Posted by: 49 Pan   2019-05-25 12:03  

#16  The slump has more to do with the rise in craft beers that are locally made and distributed in bottles and the beer companies being sold out of country. This slump coincides with the major beer manufacturer, Budweiser, being sold to a foreign country and their shift in marketing to social justice warriors. Go to the local pub and you will find a number of beer drinkers, now drinking PBR or craft beers, that have sworn off all things Budweiser-permanently. They forget the sports lovers and beer drinkers across America don't watch Soccer, they buy American, and don't spend money with companies that call them bigots.
Posted by: 49 Pan   2019-05-25 12:02  

#15  I believe the loss of jobs is due to man-made global climate change stuff.

US imports of Russian, Chinese aluminium slump

Ford Bet on Aluminum Trucks
Posted by: Skidmark   2019-05-25 11:51  

#14  Imported aluminum costs more. As a result, didn't somebody invest $500 million in a middle America aluminum plant?

I believe the loss of jobs is due to man-made global climate change stuff.
Posted by: Bobby   2019-05-25 11:27  

#13  Bear from glass bottles tastes better.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2019-05-25 10:23  

#12  So much emphasis on overly hoppy,fruity yuppie piss water that it's nearly impossible to get a nice crisp balance lager.

Thank you.

And maybe I don't want to drink swill from a can advertising gay fallatio.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2019-05-25 10:22  

#11  I blame Trump for the continuation of me brewing my own delicious home brewed beer.

Thank you Mr. Trump.
Posted by: DarthVader   2019-05-25 09:55  

#10  5 Year Aluminum Price Chart.
Posted by: Phaick Uneretle6310   2019-05-25 09:49  

#9  I'ma drinking Wild Turkey 101 while I watch the Indy 500 and the Coca Cola 600 tomorrow...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2019-05-25 09:18  

#8  ...and 40K I believe is, shall we say, an exaggeration.
Posted by: Raj   2019-05-25 09:02  

#7  Why would tariffs cause job losses - would raise cost on foreign beer

According to the article the tariff is on the metal for cans, not the beer itself, Glenmore.
Posted by: trailing wife   2019-05-25 09:01  

#6  So much emphasis on overly hoppy,fruity yuppie piss water that it's nearly impossible to get a nice crisp balance lager.
Posted by: Regular joe   2019-05-25 08:48  

#5  I wonder who is leading the whine brigade? Foreign owned Miller and Bud?
Posted by: Chereting Pelosi1889   2019-05-25 08:26  

#4  Why would tariffs cause job losses - would raise cost on foreign beer and make good domestic beer even more cost competitive, and motivate more domestic jobs, not less. Used to be you had to buy foreign to get good beer but not anymore.
Posted by: Glenmore   2019-05-25 08:19  

#3  The main culprit is the beer slump, with consumption down 1.5% as more drinkers gravitated to spirits and wine.

A Beer Industry spokeswoman said Thursday in a statement that while the group can’t say tariffs are “100% to blame,” the evidence “supports that brewers are making fewer investments because of the added cost of aluminum.”


No mention of actual can cost figures, you have to ask why. Plus the growing craft brewers companies, I'm willing to bet the corn syrup beers boys are feeling the hurt.

All the crap big brewers insert, serves them right. Example, decades ago Hamms brewery included a radioactive isotope to ensure a large foam head.

The results of German Beer Purity Law, Reinheitsgebot, makes for healthier, better taste.
Posted by: Woodrow   2019-05-25 08:04  

#2  The beer industry is over-saturated with so many craft brewers. Trump is NOT the source of contraction
Posted by: Frank G   2019-05-25 08:01  

#1  did everyone besides me stop drinking beer all of a sudden?
Posted by: chris   2019-05-25 07:58  

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