‘It’s an enormous blow to Scotland’s whisky trade’ | EUROtoday

US President Donald Trump has unveiled an inventory of tariffs on nations the world over that ship their merchandise to America. The UK can be topic to 10% tariffs.

We’ve spoken to corporations which export to the US from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland about what they assume the affect on their companies can be.

For Scotch whisky makers, the US is its most essential abroad market – price £971 million a 12 months.

Anthony Wills runs the Kilchoman distillery on the island of Islay and says he feels “deflated” on the prospect of tariffs. “It’s a huge blow for the industry,” he says.

“For us personally, it represents 10% of our sales. So it’s clearly going to be a big blow, especially with the current economic headwinds that we’re all experiencing, we’re all going to find this very difficult and very challenging.”

The trade has been hit with US tariffs earlier than, with a 25% levy on single malts again in 2019. The Scottish Whisky Association estimates that for the 18 months the tariffs had been in place, the trade misplaced £600m in gross sales.

Mr Wills says he break up the price of the tariff together with his US importer so the value would keep the identical for his or her American clients.

“I imagine we’ll be doing what we did last time, and trying to keep the shelf price as it was before,” he says.

“We have to react and we will be discussing this with our importer and deciding what the best way forward is.”

Wales bought £2.2bn of products to the US final 12 months – most of it was equipment and tools manufactured by small firms.

Newport-based firm, Tomoe Valve, makes excessive efficiency butterfly valves which are utilized in all kinds of tasks everywhere in the world.

The agency hit £6m in gross sales in 2024/25 and its largest order price £1.2m ($1.6m) got here from the US – an enormous valve for a battery plant.

Financial director Denise Cole says she doesn’t need tariffs on her merchandise however understands why President Trump has introduced them in.

“I’ve seen UK manufacturing decimated and the same has happened in America so he’s looking after his own which is exactly what it says on the tin with Trump.”

She says there was lots of panic over tariffs and any adjustments may very well be “short-lived”.

“I really don’t think it’s going to impact us in a negative way,” she says. “The specialist products we sell, they don’t manufacture in the US anyway, they would struggle to get them elsewhere.

“Our personal authorities has performed me extra harm by rising employer National Insurance Contributions,” she says. “That’s added £35,000 to my prices – that is an entire individual’s wages. I might have taken on a brand new member of workers this 12 months as we’ve got some large orders however I will not be capable of now.”

The Treasury has previously said it was delivering the stability businesses need to invest and grow.

A new import tax of 25% on cars entering the US came into effect today, and car parts will face the same tax at some point in the next few months.

Some 17% of UK car exports went to the US last year, making it the second largest export market after the EU.

Barkley Plastics in Sutton Coldfield supplies parts to carmakers including Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Toyota and Mini.

Managing director Matt Harwood says: “The new tariffs will have an effect on [car manufacturers] vastly, which in flip impacts companies like us of their provide chain.”

He says the UK’s automotive industry was already under pressure before the tariffs were announced. The UK produced more than 1.5 million cars a year before the pandemic – that’s now down to 800,000 a year.

Mr Harwood says: “Covid-19, chip shortages, and broader provide chain disruptions have made volumes unpredictable in recent times. These new US tariffs threaten to push that quantity even decrease, which might be significantly damaging for smaller suppliers like us, who function on tight margins.

“A further downturn in demand could quickly translate into job losses or even business closures,” he says. “So our main concern is how the US tariffs put tens of thousands of jobs at risk within the UK automotive supply chain.”

In 2022, Northern Ireland exported items price £1.9bn to the US, making it the third largest exterior marketplace for items behind Great Britain (£11bn) and Ireland (£4.6bn).

Belfast watchmaker Nomadic makes 22% of its gross sales within the US.

Its founder Peter McAuley says there was enormous potential for his enterprise to develop within the US, however that is now doubtful.

He says America is a robust market with a superb buying and selling setting, however he believes tariffs will have an effect on his gross sales – though he stays assured about the way forward for the buying and selling relationship between Northern Ireland and the US.

Additional reporting by Oliver Smith and Jennifer Meierhans.