Earlier today, the Brewers Association (BA) submitted formal comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in advance of the upcoming United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) joint review. The BA’s comments advocate for the protection of duty-free access to key Canadian materials for U.S. small and independent breweries.
Key asks included:
- Preserving duty-free access for U.S. brewers to Canadian barley and barley malt, which account for a significant portion of U.S. brewing inputs.
- Making Canadian-origin aluminum duty-free, given its critical role in can production for what is now the dominant packaging type for craft beer.
- Maintaining supply-chain certainty for smaller breweries that depend on Canadian sourcing for other items such as bottle caps, closures, fittings, specialty parts, and brewing equipment components.
The BA stressed that beer production is sensitive to supply cost shifts, and that any tariff or trade-rule changes affecting Canadian sourced materials could disproportionately impact smaller breweries operating on already narrow margins. The BA will continue to monitor developments and engage with USTR to safeguard the interests of the U.S. small and independent brewing industry.
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