After the long-standing trade dispute between the United States and the European Union was resolved, and the United States agreed to suspend tariffs on one of Scotland’s main exports, Scottish single malt whisky manufacturers breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday. .

As part of the aerospace subsidy trade dispute, former US President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff in October 2019. Although the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the European Union, it belongs to the European Union when tariffs are imposed.

Earlier this week, the United States and the European Union reached an agreement to end the dispute, paving the way for the two sides to suspend tariffs on a range of products such as olive oil and cheese as well as whiskey.

The Scotch Whisky Association estimates that in the 18 months to March 2021, tariffs have reduced total exports to the United States by 30%, equivalent to approximately 600 million pounds (850 million US dollars).

“This agreement eliminates the threat of re-imposing tariffs on Scotch whisky next month and allows brewers to focus on restoring exports to our largest and most valuable export market,” said Karen Bates, CEO of the association .

After the election of US President Joe Biden, it was widely expected that US-European relations would thaw, and Biden made it clear that he intended to improve relations. In March of this year, the two sides agreed to temporarily suspend tariffs related to the Airbus-Boeing dispute in order to seek a solution.

After the United States and the European Union reached an aerospace agreement, the British Secretary of International Trade Liz Truss and the U.S. Trade Representative Catherine Tay agreed to stop retaliatory tariffs within five years.

“Today’s agreement delineates a very disruptive issue, which means that we can focus on taking our trade relationship with the United States to a new level, including working more closely to challenge unfair practices in countries such as China, and Use the power of free trade to build better [coronavirus] Pandemic,” Truss said.

Dai said that the two sides also agreed to establish a civil aviation industry working group and cooperate on “third-country non-market practices” to “ensure fair competition and respond to common challenges from other countries.” China and other non-market economies”.

Following Britain’s departure from the EU’s economic track at the beginning of this year, it is free to negotiate trade agreements with any country it wants. Earlier this week, the British government negotiated with Australia on the outline of a free trade agreement that will eliminate tariffs on various commodities in the next few years.

Ivan Menezes, chief executive of beverage giant Diageo, said the removal of tariffs on Scotch whiskey and other recent developments showed that Brexit could bring benefits.

“With the end of this dispute, the removal of the remaining tariffs on British spirits by the new free trade agreement with Australia, and the opening of trade negotiations with India, the world’s largest whisky market, Britain’s new independent trade policy is now bringing about The major benefits are Scotch and Scotch,” Menezes said. His company’s stable single malt whiskies include Talisker and Laphroaig.

The Scottish National Party, which manages the decentralized government in Scotland, urges the British government to provide more support to help companies that have suffered losses.

“Although this announcement was very popular after months of cross-party campaigning, the loss of Scotch whisky exports is jaw-dropping and the industry needs time to get back on its feet,” said lawmaker David Linden.

According to Thursday’s agreement, the UK will suspend 25% tariffs on American rum, brandy and vodka for a period of five years. However, due to the steel and aluminum disputes between the European Union and the United States, American whiskey will continue to face a 25% tariff imposed by the United Kingdom.

The American Distilled Liquor Committee welcomed Thursday’s agreement and hopes to find a resolution as soon as possible to remove tariffs on American whiskey. The committee said this resulted in a 53% drop in exports to the UK.

“We hope that this positive momentum will also lead to the rapid and permanent removal of EU and UK tariffs on American whiskey,” said Chris Swanger, CEO of the group.

Karen Betts, his colleague at the Scotch Whisky Association, said she hopes these “can be resolved as soon as possible.”