‘Please, please, please’: How Beshear got the Biden administration to lift bourbon tariffs.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo found herself regularly talking on the phone to an old friend as an all-important December deadline approached.
It was Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
The governor was imploring the commerce secretary to strike a deal with the European Union on bourbon tariffs, which were set to double on Dec. 1 from 25% to 50%.
“I had a lot of contact with the governor,” Raimondo told the Herald-Leader in an interview. “Mostly him calling me regularly saying, you know, ‘Please please please, you have to resolve these tariffs, because a lot of people are going to lose their jobs.’”
Officials from the United States and EU struck a deal last week, doing away with the tariffs altogether and potentially saving thousands of jobs that would have been lost. The tariffs will be suspended starting on Jan. 1, though the deal does not include the U.K. since it exited the European Union in 2020.
It was part of a larger trade deal struck between the two entities, on goods ranging from steel to Levi Strauss & Co. jeans, that’s emblematic of the approach to trade taken by Joe Biden’s White House as it pulls back some of the barriers.
“I’ve also received a lot of jokes from people saying we’re going to have a glass of bourbon to celebrate,” said Raimondo, who added that Beshear also called her afterward to offer his thanks and congratulations.
Beshear, who got to know Raimondo while she was governor of Rhode Island, said he first called her to discuss the tariffs in January — but she didn’t pick up because she was attending her confirmation hearing.
The two have spoken about ten times since, Beshear said, including during a face-to-face meeting in Washington last week. By then, Raimondo was familiar with the governor’s pitch.
“I started to raise it, and she said, ‘I got it, I’m about to get on a phone call for it, this is atop our agenda,’” Beshear recounted Raimondo telling her.
The U.S. and E.U. announced an agreement less than a week later.
“I appreciated that level of communication,” Beshear said. “For as big an issue as this was to Kentucky, to have the Commerce secretary reaching out to you personally builds not only confidence in me, it built confidence in the industry.”
The lobbying effort to slash the tariffs has been a top priority for most of Kentucky’s congressional delegation and was heralded by members of both parties.
Rep. Andy Barr, a co-chair of the Congressional Bourbon Caucus, led multiple letters to both the Biden and Trump administrations pushing for their full removal.
“The agreement reached between the United States and the European Union is a huge boost for distillers in Kentucky and throughout the nation,” said Barr.
Charles Booker, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate credited Beshear and Biden for hammering out the deal.
“To have vital Kentucky industries shuttered by these tariffs was destructive and shortsighted,” Booker said. This is good and welcomed news for the people of Kentucky and our collective aims for a sustainable, thriving future.”
After this story published, a spokesman on Friday offered a statement from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who noted the significant economic impact of the agreement.
“Tariffs have put Kentucky distillers at a disadvantage abroad, so I join Kentucky’s bourbon industry in welcoming the recent agreement with the E.U., the largest export market for American whiskey, and in encouraging the Biden Administration to prioritize a similar agreement with the U.K.,” McConnell said.
The Kentucky Distillers Association said the tariffs slashed exports of Kentucky bourbon -- an $8.6 billion industry, providing 20,000 jobs in the state -- by 50% since they were imposed in 2018.
E.U. officials that year levied the tariffs as a retaliatory measure to tariffs former President Donald Trump imposed on aluminum and steel imports, part of what the Republican said at the time was a necessary measure to protect domestic metal-working industries.
The trade deal struck this week doesn’t revoke the tariffs outright, but does allow a certain amount of steel and aluminum to be imported into the country without facing any duties. Raimondo said U.S. policy will seek to balance the concern of industries and employers alike.
“It’s a trade policy that protects our industries and protects our workers,” she said.
This story has been updated to reflect a statement from Mitch McConnell.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 5:39 PM.
