Trump's Tariffs Are Hiking the Price of Your Favorite Whisky
American whisky and wine drinkers are being punished for trying to amicably trade what they have for what they want.
HD DownloadA bottle of your favorite Scotch whisky might cost a bit more this year, thanks to new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration that target European imports like alcohol, cheese, and wool.
President Trump ordered those tariffs last year as punishment for what the United States sees as unfair subsidies provided by the European Union to Airbus, a major airplane manufacturer based in France. In practice, the tariffs mean that American consumers of whisky and wine, among other things, will be paying higher import taxes in order to punish European producers—even though those industries are not at fault for the corporate welfare provided by their governments. The whole situation highlights the folly of using tariffs at all.
Written and narrated by Eric Boehm. Motion graphics by Lex Villena.
You can read the full article that this video is based on here.
Photo credits: ID 129858134 © Anna Iagur | Dreamstime.com, ID 87423438 © Tonyv3112 | Dreamstime.com Joseph Sohm Visions of America/Newscom, Yuri Gripas - CNP / MEGA / Newscom, ID 151979585 © Chernetskaya | Dreamstime.com, ID 65980725 © Tracy Decourcy | Dreamstime.com, ID 14574626 © Milosz7 | Dreamstime.com, ID 21433281 © Empire331 | Dreamstime.com, 1956 Glenmore Distilleries Whiskies Advertisement Time April 2 1956 by SenseiAlan, ID 80552706 © Vadymvdrobot | Dreamstime.com, ID 80553749 © Vadymvdrobot | Dreamstime.com, Phil Hogan, Photo: Arno Mikkor (CC Attribution 2.0), ID 64330805 © Anton Starikov | Dreamstime.com, ID 79241886 © Modernnomads | Dreamstime.com, ID 6981716 © Pakhnyushchyy | Dreamstime.com, 787_First_Flight.jpg: Dave Size (CC Attribution 2.0), ID 108016981 © Rawpixelimages | Dreamstime.com, ID 41013802 © Rawpixelimages | Dreamstime.com, Photo 7377326 © Richard Nelson - Dreamstime.com, ID 154854267 © Chumphon Whangchom | Dreamstime.com, ID 19816153 © Scott Griessel | Dreamstime.com
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Favorite whisky? What kind of nonsense is that?
Whisky? The correct spelling is 'bourbon'
Damn straight.
The objective truth of the situation is that bourbon is the best form of whiskey, and that is made right here in the USA.
Correct
word.
TRUTH
And the second best whisky is spelled "whiskey", which I guess isn't affected by the tariffs at all because Boner Boehm didn't bother to mention it.
Scotch is swill.
Boehm actually needed help to write this drivel.
Raising tariffs = raising taxes = anti--economic freedom, moron. You are no libertarian, Shithead.
Of course I'm not a libertarian. I'm not a clueless free market purist who thinks nation-states (and the governments that run them) don't exist and don't have agendas to harm our country using trade and economics. I don't believe in selling our adversaries the rope to hang us out of dedication to some idea that it will all work out if we just let China do what they want.
I'm a grown-up, and therefore an American conservative.
Well this is a libertarian site, so get out.
Everything you said is nonsense and is based on the false notion that trade is zero sum, that we somehow "lose" if we buy more stuff from China than they buy from us, which is absurd. The fact is, we have LOST manufacturing jobs since Trump's trade war started because even American manufacturers rely on imports.
America is becoming a service economy, and there's nothing wrong with that. Get over it.
I'll go where I want, fuck you very much.
And if you don't get that, you're far less libertarian than I am. Which is probably the case, because you're also far more stupid than pretty much anyone on this comment board, except the progtards and the kiddie raper.
Progtard, you are not a libertarian yourself. You do not understand that Trump’s tariffs are leverage, and not meant to e structural. A means to REDUCE the amount of interference in trading with these countries.
Now I have straightened you out. Feel free to thank me, and rejoice. As I have pissed generosity upon you.
"Conservatives" have done nothing but borrow and spend for generations.
"Libertarians" like you have done nothing at any point except whine and bitch and reinforce your own irrelevance.
Go cast your little throwaway vote for Gary Johnson or Ron Paul and then crawl back under your rock, bitter ender.
‘Conservatives’ have done nothing if the sort. RINOs certainly have. Clearly there is much you do not understand.
You must be drinking cheap scotch.
That's the only kind of scotch it makes sense to drink, since the pricey stuff is swill too.
Although it makes more sense to drink something that's actually good.
Rye comes in a close second and is made in the US and Canada.
Like me some rye whiskey more than bourbon, but that’s good too. My granddad used Black Velvet for his manhattans because it had rye in it.
Rye for Manhattans, bourbon for old fashioned. Haven't had either in awhile. May have to but the stuff for cocktails this payday.
HELL YEAH!
My favorite whisky comes from Kentucky, so that's an unlikely headline for me.
If the euros stop buying the Kentucky whiskey you'll feel it eventually.
Then it’s our duty as patriotic Americans to buy more.
And when demand decreases and supply increases, we'll be paying less for it and therefore our budget to purchase it will go much further.
I'm all in favor of this.
All in favor of government intervention.
Spoken like a man who longs to live under the benevolent rule of Chinese legalism.
Lol.
Oh, big bad China is gonna "get" us. Lol.
People like you are usually the first one loaded onto the rail cars for the re-education camps, because you're not useful enough to keep alive or smart enough to keep your mouth shut around your new masters.
They certainly have made that a long term goal.
It's not your "patriotic duty" to buy any American product you don't want to buy. Economic nationalists are fascists.
So you don't care if the wall street captains of capitalism got in bed with the commies in China flooding our stores with cheap Chinese junk, making it impossible to find made in USA products if you choose to buy made in USA. What do you call those wall street globalist traitors, Economic communists?
Nope. I have no problem with it whatsoever. If another country can make goods more cheaply and efficiently, then I say we should buy from them. That's what trade is all about.
So you're saying that bourbon will become less expensive because there'll be a glut.
Yeah, that's a real shame.
A shame for the people who make the whiskey, which is not good.
Oh, so now you're in favor of raising prices to protect jobs?
Pick a side.
Not by government. By natural economic forces.
China subsidizing steel industry to drive American industry under with artificially low prices = "natural domestic forces"
Trump imposing tariffs to prevent China from destroying American steel industry = "RON PAUL SAYS EVIL STATISM, ORANGE MAN BAD!!!"
"natural economic forces"
He is a dull witted progtard who understands nothing. He needs much education. He does no appreciate o tolerance and generosity.
If the euros stop buying Kentucky whiskey that will reduce the demand and (Econ 10) the price goes down.
"It will generally be advantageous to lay some burden upon foreign industry for the encouragement of domestic industry, when some tax is imposed at home upon the produce of the latter. In this case, it seems reasonable that an equal tax should be imposed upon the like produce of the former. This would not give the monopoly of the borne market to domestic industry, nor turn towards a particular employment a greater share of the stock and labour of the country, than what would naturally go to it. It would only hinder any part of what would naturally go to it from being turned away by the tax into a less natural direction, and would leave the competition between foreign and domestic industry, after the tax, as nearly as possible upon the same footing as before it."
- Adam Smith
"Tariffs are always evil in all circumstances because it keeps customers from being able to buy cheap shit. There are no other considerations, ever."
- What Reason writers think Adam Smith said
Reason has yet to even *attempt* explain why it’s “libertarian” to tax domestic labor in preference to the products sold by Slave Emperor Xi.
Because Charles Koch can't make big bucks in China if we put them at a competitive disadvantage with a level playing field?
If another country makes something cheaper, it is a no brainer to buy from them. We benefit from the savings left over, which we can spend on other things. How on earth do you believe having to spend more to buy stuff benefits consumers?
So if China destroys our domestic steel industry, which is critical to our defense capability, with their state-subsidized steel, it makes sense to you to give them control over market share in that industry, even though they're militarily hostile to us?
So where is it that you think we're going to get steel if we end up in a fight with China over an invasion of Taiwan or an attack on Japan or over North Korea nuclearization? Do you think they'll continue to sell it to us if we're at war? Or do you think it'll come from the other countries whose steel industries China is wrecking?
How about any of the other key industries where they control production, like drugs? Do you think it's a good idea to just buy from them and cede them total control over production while it's cheaper? Does that strike you as smart policy against a nation that sees us as an enemy?
We'd get steel from some of the dozens of other countries that produce steel. I think you are paranoid about China. China's economy will collapse from communism long before they ever take us out. Subsidizing steel and selling to other countries for cheap is not even sustainable economically.
You mean the dozens of other countries whose steel industries were similarly decimated by China and who have their own demands to satisfy? They're buying Chinese steel too, and if they sell to us, China will cut them off as well. And it won't hurt China at all, because Chinese steel is sold at below production cost...specifically to achieve the effect of destroying other nations' domestic steel industries. They'll be saving money by not dumping steel when they cut us off.
If you were a Jew back in the 1930s, you'd be the one telling people that they're just paranoid about the Nazis and that we shouldn't take all their talk seriously. People who listen to advice from people like you tend to get crushed by events they should have seen coming.
Unlike you, I actually take the time to listen to what China says and watch what China does, and study their history (rather than the leftist press' synopsis)...and that's why I don't trust their government's intentions.
They are very open about their intentions. They are not our friends.
That's another problem with your worldview. You think the Chinese are communists. They're not...they're legalist. That's been their system of government for most of the last 2,000 years. You should probably take some time to figure out the difference.
Uh, because our government has no jurisdiction over China. Also, libertarians in theory oppose taxing domestic labor too.
UCrawford, you cannot call yourself a libertarian and support government intervention in the economy. You're a fraud. Let people freely choose whom to buy from. How does that hurt you? Oh yeah, it doesn't.
Austrian economists disagree with Adam Smith. Smith lived in ignorant mercantilist times and was still a product of that.
I don't call myself a libertarian. I abandoned that philosophy when I realized that "true" libertarians support pathetic, drugged-up wastrels like Gary Johnson for high office. I'm a pro-American conservative with some libertarian leanings (but far fewer than I used to have). I'm in it for the benefit of the country and for better outcomes, not ideological purity.
The same Austrian economists whose country was on the wrong side of two world wars and had to be saved from fascism and socialism by U.S. military intervention? Yeah...clearly they're the basket into which you should place all your ideological eggs.
Ron Paul is an "Austrian economist." It has nothing to do with Austria except that Von Mises was from Austria.
Ron Paul is a bigot and a crank and that's why his son was smart enough not to follow in his footsteps of being a libertarian (and has been a rather solid Senator).
Von Mises worked for the fascist government of Austria before fleeing the Nazis, genius. He was the chief economist for a fascist government.
Do you study any history at all, or do you just uncritically regurgitate whatever talking points other Paulestinians throw at you?
In the election of 1844 Abraham Lincoln argued that tariffs led to lower consumer prices and free trade to higher consumers. The data confirms that he was correct. In “The Myth of Free Trade the Pooring of America” Dr. Ravi Batra presents data that confirms Lincoln’s view this way:
“Between 1869 and 1899, import volume of international trade fell far short of the growth in economic activity. Foreign competition became insignificant to most U.S. manufactures. Here, then, was the classic profile of an inward-looking economic system—one for which the advocates of free trade reserve their direst predictions. Here is a society which, according to their doctrine, would fritter away its precious resource; a society where the absence of foreign rivalry would lead to choking prices and shoddy products; where producers would have no incentive to innovate and improve; in short, a society that would gradually slide into mediocrity and even poverty”
“What actually happened over these years is only too well known. The gross national product of the United States quadrupled between 1869 and 1900 when measured in constant (1929) dollars. In spite of a mushrooming population, real wages jumped 50 percent, retail prices tumbled 37 percent, and annual per capita income rose from $223 in 1869 to almost $500 in 1900.”
Today blue collar workers earn less in real wages than the did in 1972. Again confirming Lincoln.
Harley Smoot, dipshit.
Lincoln didn't know shit about economics, and neither do you apparently. The study you quoted is a joke that makes presumptions.
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/truth-about-trade-history Read this. It refutes all your talking points.
"Look at me," said Widdle Vinnie, "I can spout ad hominems and link to Cato, and that makes me just as smart as all the growed ups."
He certainly is a precocious little tyke, isn’t he? Maybe he is a Pedo Jeffy sock.
There is no such thing as cheap shit, you pay for it, with higher taxes for the people who were put out of work. Strange that the US was all for tariffs in the old days when they protected American businesses from foreign competition and used the tariffs to run the government, and there was no income tax then. Now that they discovered the near slave wages being paid in communist China, they are exalting the benefits of free trade, with a communist country no less, putting Americans out of work, throwing them down the sewer, purely out of greed. And these captains of capitalism, who have been in bed with the commies in China for decades are branding Bernie as a commie?
Nope. Tariffs to run the government are nowhere near as high as protectionist tariffs. Also, those who lose their jobs due to free trade find other jobs in non-manufacturing industries. They don't go on welfare.
What Globalists call a free market is a set of foreign trade, immigration, and domestic tax policies that benefits foreigners and corporate ownership over American labor.
Citation on Adam Smith quote favoring tariffs to offset local taxes on production.
Wealth of Nations, pg. 356
https://ibiblio.org/ml/libri/s/SmithA_WealthNations_p.pdf
And what do idiots like Boehm think Bernie or Biden will do if elected? Drop all our tariffs?
Biden dropping the tariffs would be a stroke of genius and switch the two parties on trade. Democrats would be seen as pro-freedom on trade whereas Republicans, because of Trump, would be seen as supporting crony capitalism and taxes. Trump has brought the GOP back to the failed Hoover days of Smoot Hawley.
The only insightful parts of that sentence are "Biden" and "stroke".
You beat me to it. And Biden will absolutely hike tariffs, structurally.
Incidentally, you clearly don't know much about Republican policy of the early 20th century. McKinley through Coolidge utilized tariffs extensively as a means of funding the federal government, and it was a period of great prosperity for the American people. They called it the "Full Dinner Pail" platform. It collapsed because the Republicans nominated Hoover (over the objections of Coolidge) who didn't understand that there was a limit to how high tariffs can be raised before they become detrimental rather than beneficial.
You should probably read more about that before you start dropping cherrypicked facts you picked up from other libertarian blogs.
I don't give a crap what Adam Smith said, idiot.
I don't owe American labor shit, commie.
How much junk made in Communist China do you buy? It's unavoidable, everything on the shelves is made by the commies in China. So why don't you ask your right wing captains of capitalism buddies why have they thrown the American workers down the sewer purely out of greed? Everytime you buy that Chinese junk, you are personally financing a repressive dictatorial regime in China. So how much have you given them so far? I would think twice before you call somone a commie. You must be one of those guys who pledges allegiance to an American flag made in a foreign country, a communist country no less, without even asking why that flag is no made here? Another Trump chump?
https://cafehayek.com/2020/03/happy-244th-birthday-an-inquiry-into-the-nature-and-causes-of-the-wealth-of-nations.html
You piss on his cake.
So watersports is your thing?
Hawley Smoot failed, Shithead.
Do you even know what you’re replying to?
And plenty of Austrian economists disagree with Adam Smith. Is that the best you got?
"And plenty of Austrian economists disagree with Adam Smith."
Murray Rothbard was an acolyte of Austrian economics, and he was an idiot.
The government should be funded solely by tariffs on imported goods.
If government was at its proper size, the government could run on minimal tariffs, not the protectionist kind Trump supports.
You’re very stupid, and very ignorant. We’re being nice and try to straighten you out, but there’s a limit.
My favorite whisky is called bourbon. It's American. Much as I appreciate my Scottish heritage, Scotch is swill that has all the flavor of rubbing alcohol. It's drunk in America by pretentious Europhiles who like to be thought of as people who drink Scotch and who wear kilts at the Burns nights they host where they serve knock-off haggis because they think it will impress other pretentious Europhiles.
I'm all in favor of giving them rubbing alcohol, calling it Scotch, and seeing if they can spot the difference. I suspect they can't.
Never been a Scotch fan. It tastes medicinal rather than smooth.
I hate the stuff. I've tried to appreciate it, but it makes me want to spit it out or vomit, even the "high-end" stuff. Bourbon, on the other hand, I can drink mixed, on the rocks, or neat.
And actually I like applejack even better than bourbon on that front. If you want smooth, give that a shot. It even gives you the nice Scotch burn, but without the horrific taste.
Haven't tried Applejack. I love ciders and pearys. May have to. Love a good bourbon or rye neat, though I prefer mine over ice. Even have two spherical ice cube trays. It chills the whiskey but melts slower so it doesn't water it down so much.
Have you tried Japanese Whiskey? I've heard good things, but the price keeps me from trying any. I love Irish whiskeys too. But they are already pricey so they are a treat, a tariff probably won't make me buy them any less, since I only buy a bottle once in a blue moon anyhow. My favorite is Writer's Tears Copper Pot.
And Pendleton's 1910 Rye is arguably my favorite, a Canadian Rye that's aged for 19 years.
But I've never found a single Scotch that I like.
I really tried to like Talisker's (since it came from the island my family came from) but it was abhorrent. I've tried all the "good" scotches and they are all equally repellant.
Haven't tried Japanese whiskey. I stick with the basics of Jack and Maker's Mark for my home liquor cabinet, and I don't really drink much at home. I'll generally drink Laird's Applejack or Appleton's Reserve Rum (which is very good on it's own and amazing as a mixer) on the rare occasion I have a drink at home, and when I go out I'm limited to the selection at my small local pub and will more likely than not have beer rather than hard liquor. I don't think they have the pricey stuff (it's a small town pub) and our liquor store prices where I live are horrible thanks to state taxes.
Incidentally...for the perusal of those wishing to learn more about Scotch.
https://www.somethingawful.com/news/whisky-reviews-gross/1/
Holy shit, Something Awful still exists?
New York and northern Pennsylvania wines are really good. And patronize small Appalachian businessmen by purchasing that stuff they make in the mountains of Tennessee and NC. I'm not a fan of hard liquor but find it surprisingly smooth. No taxes make it go down even better.
If you're interested in a smooth domestic hard liquor, give Laird's Applejack a try. It's not the original recipe, as it's a blended drink now, but it gives you the nice Scotch burn without the harsh rubbing alcohol taste.
14 Hands vineyard in Washington state does some great reds.
You're a Washington state guy? Can't remember if I asked you this before.
North Idaho but now live in Montana.
You know what? I am not thrilled with tariffs. But there are good, quality alternatives to EU whisky's and wines. Quite frankly, I am tired of carrying them [defensively, economically], and the EU charging America tariffs out the wazoo and generally acting like spoiled ingrates...
I'll just suffer along and buy American. 🙂
Adam Smith favored tariffs to offset local taxes on production, protect national defense industries, and pressure foreign nations to reduce their tariffs.
Reason's "Enrich Slave Emperor Xi At All Costs" trade policies have nothing to do with a *free* market.
Well fuck Adam Smith, moron.
Got it, you're only for economists who came from countries that sided with the Nazis.
Truly high standards there.
The way Europe is heading your favorite whisky will be haram anyway.
Reason: You leave our cocktails parties alone!
FYI to all the Scotch Europhile haters: Scotch Wiskey is spelled WITHOUT the H. Only American Bourbon or rye Whiskey is spelled with an H.
Europe does not make any Whiskey, as I guess you all know now.
Now, as to Scotch Wiskey: The absolute Nectar of the Gods. Especially Islay (Island) Wisky. Laphroaig, Talisker and the like. Even better (and stronger) than industrial strength paint remover. Not for wimps brought up on Old Heaven Hill, Old Overholt Rye and Evan Williams for example.
We Euro-snobs simply will not deign to call this a Whiskey and will stick to our European Scotch Wiskey, thank you very much. Ta Da.
This is a great example of progressive taxation. The typical American family spends exactly $0 on Scotch and French wine. If we must collect taxes, taking them from the people with the money makes sense.
I enjoy Japanese whisky and Laphroaig is unique and not flavourless.
But bourbon is my preferred drink.
Whiserhood has the best ads. Welcome to the society of uncompromising men. /slow clap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuScm9FZPmQ
Laphroaig is the best!
Dey took are likher!!i!
"what the United States sees as unfair subsidies provided by the European Union to Airbus"
So, it's an open question whether these subsidies are fair or not, or it doesn't matter if the playing field between the U. S. and Europe is in fact level?
Subsidies are a transfer of wealth from Europe to America. It means we buy things for less than they're worth. Only a moron like Trump would see that as a bad thing.
That "moron" has a Bachelors of Science in Economics from the Ivy League, a degree from one of the top business schools in the country, ran a multi-billion dollar business in one of the most cutthroat industries (real estate) for four decades, created, produced, and starred in a hit television show for a decade, and won the presidency on his first attempt at elected office. He's also married to an international model and he's a billionaire.
What's your bio, genius?
No! No! It’s all fake! Fake billionaire!
Although if all that is fake,I don’t want to be real.
I type this while I sip on a some single barrel Knob Creek I bottled myself at the Jim Beam distillery in Kentucky.
Criticize my choice all you want. It was not made in some other place. I watched them open the barrel, and I watched it pour into the friggen bottle. I put my damn thumb in the sealing wax.
A little blood rushed into my penis when I typed that. I should pee.
GOOD FOR TRUMP.
Buy Canadian Whisky my American friends. Full of rye goodness.
Boehm loves to completely ignore all the trade restrictions pre-Trump. What a hack.
Who cares about social security taxes...
Income taxes...
Sales taxes
Tariffs...
Sin taxes...
Obamacare taxes...
Liquor taxes...
Building permits costs....
Regulatory costs...
State taxes...
Insurance costs...
Business taxes....
Interstate liquor costs...
Taxes on shipping....
Trying to change the subject? Fuck off.
No faggot, he is not.
You cannot call yourself a libertarian and advocate punishing people for trading with foreigners. JesseAz is a FAKE libertarian who supports raising tariffs (taxes).
You cannot call yourself a libertarian and advocate punishing people for trading with Americans instead of foreigners.
Strawman. Nobody is advocating government punish those who buy domestic goods.
Yeah, the founders were totally against tariffs.
Fuckin retard.
There is a difference between tariffs for revenue purposes and protectionist tariffs, retard.
The founders also supported slavery.
So you're saying that sometimes tariffs can be good?
And how, exactly, are Trump's policies the latter rather than the former? By all means, explain that to the "retards".
Faggot, your are incredibly ignorant. You are likely another Pedo Jeffy sock.
Morons can't tell the difference between a 5% tariff designed to raise revenue and a 30% protectionist tariff. Lol.
BTW, I don't drink a drop of alcohol, smoke cigarettes, smoke weed, or use hard drugs, just for the record.
I do drink a lot of carbonated drinks, though.
BTW, I don’t drink a drop of alcohol, smoke cigarettes, smoke weed, or use hard drugs, just for the record.
shocking
Aha
I do drink ETOH.
I also like a good soda pop.
You can get some of those here.
Ale-8 ( pronounced alie in local) is one regional drink from Kentucky. A ginger citrus mix. Avery also makes some fun drinks. Zombie Brain Juice is good.
Hard to find good root beer these days.
Yes, tariffs make things more expensive. They may also "cost jobs" (i.e., lead to reallocation of jobs in the US).
What's your point, genius?
Trump's trade war has led to a loss in American manufacturing jobs, moron.
BTW, libertarians value freedom, not "jobs."
https://mises.org/power-market/making-america-protectionist-again Read some Rothbard, God damn it.
I am making a good salary from home $1200-$2500/week , which is amazing, under a year back I was jobless in a horrible economy. I thank God every day I was blessed with these instructions and now it’s my duty to pay it forward and share it with Everyone, Here is what I do. Follow details on this web page……. Read more
Hawley Smoot
Hawley Smoot.
Hawley friggin' Smoot
That's Hoot Smawley to you, troglodyte. Get your facts straight.
I look forward to the article on how the bottom 50% receive nothing but benefits from the US government subsidizing local industries. After all, there is no such thing as market distortion where free trade is involved. As the bottom 50% doesn't pay much in taxes every time the government subsidizes an industry the bottom 50% is receiving more goods and services for less money, just like they do when they trade with a foreign company subsidized by a foreign government.