Every second, 43 bottles of Scotch Whisky are shipped from Scotland, amounting to 1.3 billion bottles a year. In 2025, these exports were worth £5.36 billion.

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Until last week, every bottle destined for the United States was hit with a 10 per cent tariff, a measure introduced as part of Trump’s broad package of import duties in April last year—the so-called ‘Liberation Day’. After King Charles III’s state visit last week, President Trump announced that he was removing the tariff. Good news for British distillers, and they should be raising a glass to that.

The damage caused by this tariff to Whisky producers is real and measurable. Within the first eight months after the tariff was issued, export volumes to the United States fell by 15 per cent (£4 million in lost........

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