Stiff drink tariff is hard to swallow

Scotch whisky producers and their employees face paying the price for an international trade spat that was not of their making.

Distillers have done no wrong, but will be hit with a punitive 25% tariff from today as part of a retaliation by the US for subsidies that EU states gave to plane-builder Airbus.

Industry leaders have warned that the move by Donald Trump’s government will jeopardise the £1 billion whisky export market across the Atlantic, potentially causing a 20% drop in sales.

As well as the wider implications for Scotland’s economy, there are fears that it could endanger the jobs of workers, many of whom are based in fragile remote and rural communities of the north and west. T his would be intolerable at any time, but it is even more alarming that it is being imposed amid an already heightened period of uncertainty for many businesses, just days before the current Brexit deadline. Trade Secretary Liz Truss said yesterday that UK ministers were putting pressure on their US counterparts to resolve the issue, which will also affect other products such as cashmere and shortbread. With jobs and livelihoods potentially at stake, we can only hope that the much-vaunted “special relationship” will now count when it matters most. If not, ministers in this country will have to respond urgently, using whatever levers they have at their disposal to help these industries, including tax cuts.

“We can only hope that the muchvaunted ‘special relationship’ will now count”