Excerpt reprinted from INSIGHTS Express by Beer Marketer’s Insights, publisher of leading U.S. beer industry trade newsletters since 1970. Find out more and subscribe at beerinsights.com.

Tariffs applied to imports from most U.S. trading partners, announced a week ago and effective this morning, were lowered to a standard 10% rate for 90 days, President Trump announced on social media earlier today. Tariffs on imports from China, however, were increased to 125%. Though described as a “pause,” the more modest tariff rate remains in place, applying only to so-called “reciprocal” country-by-country tariffs announced last week.

Potential impacts on the U.S. beer industry remain somewhat murky. Even before the announcement, USMCA compliant goods – those wholly produced or substantially transformed within the U.S., Mexico, and Canada – can still be considered exempt with the correct paperwork and subject to a 0% tariff. That’s presumably still the case even though many imports from Mexico and Canada will still be subjected to the new lower 10% tariff rate during the 90-day “pause.” However, the separate 25% tariff levied on the aluminum content in all imported canned beer and empty cans wasn’t mentioned in today’s change of course. After initial uncertainty, it eventually became clear that only the aluminum content in imported beer cans, not the beer itself, would be subjected to that 25% tariff, as we wrote last week. Yet INSIGHTS understands that tariff supersedes USMCA exemptions (meaning even compliant goods are subject).