HOUSTON – Tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump have far-reaching impacts on the everyday American, but there are some you might not even think of - like a can of beer.
Three main necessities are used to make most batches of beer: barley, hops, and, of course, an aluminum can.
Two out of those three ingredients are now facing significant price increases from recently announced tariffs.
Both barley and aluminum are subject to 25% tariffs.
Steel and aluminum imports are already subject to the 25% tariff, as of March 12.
“They will affect us if they all go into effect greatly,” said Brock Wagner, founder of Saint Arnold Brewing Company in Houston. “We’ve already seen increases in the cost of aluminum cans.”
Saint Arnold, like many breweries around the nation, imports their aluminum cans from Mexico. According to government data, the U.S. imports steel from Canada, Mexico and Brazil the most.
In the Saint Arnold Brewing Company warehouse, there are at least 1.5 million cans stacked floor to ceiling waiting to be filled with beer brewing just one block over.
So far, the brewery has absorbed the cost of the tariff.
“We have not raised any of our prices,” Wagner told KPRC 2’s Gage Goulding.
However, it might not be for long.
“This is where the magic happens right here,” he said while giving a tour of the brewery’s bottling facility.
Saint Arnold Brewing Company cans roughly 100,000 cans every single day.
Before they get to that point, they need to brew the beer using the main ingredient: barley.
“The vast majority of brewers barley is grown in Canada,” Wagner said. “The hit that we’ll take on products from Canada, being that our malt coming from Canada, that’s 25%. So, you can imagine, I mean, the total hit on us. You’re In seven figures on increases in costs.”
President Trump says a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods will take effect on April 2.
If that comes to fruition, it might be the straw that breaks the camels back.
“We can’t absorb that long term. We have to pass that on,” Wagner said while standing in the middle of the brewery he’s built over the last three decades. “I always think it’s important that everybody understands that the tariffs are paid by us, by the importer, not by the exporter.”
His words are spoken like a true economist.
Well, it’s because he is.
During the same time he was brewing beer in his Rice University dorm room, he was studying economics.
Here’s one lesson he can share with all of us:
“That it’s going to hit people’s pocketbooks. Absolutely. No question.”
It’s not just beer.
President Trump announced a 200% tariff on imported wine and champagne from Europe. If imposed, it will make drinking nearly unaffordable.
“If you look at the history of tariffs it’s not a good one,” Wagner said.