US President Donald Trump on Sunday said the United States would remove the 10% tariff imposed on Irish whiskey, following appeals from Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin and golfer Shane Lowry.
“Everybody's been bugging me” to remove the tariff, Trump said during a trophy ceremony attended by Irish golf fans at a tournament held at a course owned by his family.
“On behalf of the United States of America, I am going to take the tariffs off Irish whiskey,” Trump announced, drawing loud cheers from the crowd.
Trump said both Martin and Lowry had urged him to reconsider the tariff, arguing that the duty was unfair to Irish whiskey producers and exporters.
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“Taoiseach (Ireland's prime minister) and I talked about it, and Shane talked about it, and everybody has been bugging me,” Trump said. “They were saying, ‘Would you do me a favour? It's so unfair what's going on. Could you possibly take the tariffs off Irish whiskey?'”
The 10% duty on Irish whiskey is part of tariffs imposed on European Union wine and spirits exported to the United States.
Wine and spirits were initially covered by a 15% tariff on most EU goods under a US-EU trade agreement reached last year. Subsequent US tariff measures announced in July for 60 trading partners, including the European Union, reduced the applicable rate to 10%.
Trump met Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin on Saturday at the start of a 48-hour visit to Ireland.
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