The US has eliminated tariffs on whisky from the UK with effect from July 24, restoring duty-free access to the Scotch industry’s largest export market under the agreement reached during the King’s state visit to Washington in April.
The removal took effect on the same day the US announced a new round of global tariffs, with the UK government stating that its Economic Prosperity Deal with Washington remains in place and now delivers zero tariffs on both whisky and medical technology.
UK whisky exports to the US were worth about £1bn in 2025, close to 20 per cent of all whisky exported from the UK, according to the Department for Business and Trade. The Scotch Whisky Association puts the US market’s value at £933mn last year, and estimates the industry supports 41,000 jobs in Scotland and a further 25,000 across the UK.
Douglas Alexander, the Scotland secretary, marked the change with a visit to Pernod Ricard’s Strathclyde grain distillery in Glasgow, calling it “a day of celebration for Scotland’s whisky industry” and crediting the partnership with the Trump administration.
The US move is the second tariff opening for the sector this month. The UK-India free trade agreement, in force since earlier in July, cut India’s whisky tariff from 150 per cent to 75 per cent immediately, falling to 40 per cent over ten years.
Ian Duddy, international director at the Scotch Whisky Association, said tariff-free trade in the US would give distillers greater confidence to invest and grow exports, with benefits reaching supply chains from Speyside to Kentucky cooperages. The association said it now looks to build on the momentum with partners on both sides of the Atlantic, a relationship the industry will be watching closely as the broader US tariff round lands on everyone else.