US President Donald Trump says he will remove tariffs and restrictions on whisky imports following the state visit of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Trump said the decision would also lift limits affecting Scotland’s ability to work with the US state of Kentucky on whisky and bourbon production.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the move was made “in honour of the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, who have just left the White House, soon headed back to their wonderful country”.
He added: “The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!
“A wonderful honour to have them both in the USA.”
At a later press conference, Trump said: “I just took all the restrictions off, so Scotland and Kentucky can start dealing again.
“And I did it in honour of the King and Queen who just left.”
The UK government confirmed the changes would apply to all whisky tariffs, including Irish whiskey.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said the King sent his “sincere gratitude” to Trump and that he “will be raising a dram to the President’s thoughtfulness”.
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney welcomed the announcement, calling it “tremendous news for Scotland”.
He said: “Millions of pounds were being lost every month from the Scottish economy.”
The tariffs had added 10% to the cost of whisky exports to the US, Scotland’s largest market. Plans had also been in place for a further 25% charge on single malts unless an agreement was reached.
Industry representatives said the move would ease pressure on distillers.
Graeme Littlejohn, director of strategy at the Scotch Whisky Association, said: “The industry’s been losing around £4m a week in lost exports to the United States – £150m over the course of the last year while tariffs have been in place,”
“This is a real boost for the industry and distillers will breathe a sigh of relief now that these tariffs are off.
“It’s really thanks to the huge amount of negotiation that’s been going on over many months, at a very senior level.”
He added: “Perhaps the state visit has been the catalyst for getting this over the line and the King’s added that little bit of royal sparkle to make the deal work.”
UK Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle said: “This is great news for our scotch whisky industry, which is worth almost £1bn in exports and supports thousands of jobs across the UK.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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