Virginia distillers say Trump tariffs put exports on ice [Video]

Tariffs and trade threats don’t mix well with Virginia’s craft spirits industry.

Cuttino had returned on Jan. 20 from a trade trip to the western Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, where he had been cultivating relationships and investing in promising markets for Reservoir’s bourbon and other whiskeys.

The same day, President Donald Trump returned to the White House with an executive order on “America First Trade Policy” that threatened tariffs on imported goods from other countries. Since then, Trump has ordered 25% tariffs — which he suspended and then reimposed — on goods from Canada and Mexico, both partners with the U.S. under a trade agreement that he signed with them in his first term as president. He has also threatened to annex Canada as “the 51st state.”