How could tariffs impact the brewing industry? Experts weigh in

WICOMICO COUNTY, Md. – Virgil Shockley is no stranger to the ups and downs of the economy, especially being partial business owner of Burnish Beer Co. in Salisbury.

That’s why last December, when talks of President Donald Trump slapping tariffs on various imports were brewing, he decided to bulk buy beer cans, hundreds of them.

“If you’re a brewer, you’re definitely going to want to get in front of any increases, so we bought a tractor trailer load,” said Shockley. “We normally buy not a tractor trailer load, usually buy about a half a trailer load, but this case, we went ahead and bought a trailer load.”

The 25% tariff that was added to aluminum imports, Tuesday won’t stop business for Shockley, because his bulk order of cans is expected to last until July. And he’s optimistic. He said he doesn’t think the tariff will last too long.

“I think it’ll be over in 30 days or less,” said Shockley. “We got a notice last week that effective prices will be going up on a certain date, if it stays in place.”

Director of Beacon at Salisbury University, John Hickman also is an optimist.
But in the world of economics, he said being a realist is what really matters.

“There’s a hope that within 30 days, the tariffs will be ramped back, but it’s an unknown,” said Hickman.

With all the recent tariff talk, Hickman stressed that there’s no clear formula to how they will impact the consumer. But that’s why Shockley said it’s better that he got ahead of the game before they could.

“It’s sometimes not exactly clear, the exact math,” said Hickman. “It generally does increase the cost of what the consumer buys, but depending on the product, it’s not 100% what the cost of the tariff is.”