Brewers are asking Brussels to defend them from dramatic new US import taxes, the newspaper has reported

A trade group representing EU brewers has warned that a 25% tariff on imports of beer to the US may force companies to shut down and leave tens of thousands of people out of work, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

Earlier this week, the US Commerce Department added beer and empty aluminum cans to a list of derivative products subject to its tariffs on aluminum.

Brewers across the EU are reportedly confused about whether the new tariff applies to all beer or only to products imported in aluminum cans.

"We are calling on the [European] commission to use all diplomatic channels and whether through negotiation or retaliation, find a way to de-escalate this tariff in which we have become a collateral victim," Julia Leferman, secretary-general of Brewers of Europe told FT.

The group, which represents major producers such as InBev, Heineken and Carlsberg, emphasized that the EU's directorate general for trade had contacted US officials, but had not yet received clarity on the scope of the tariffs.

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Brewers of Europe told the newspaper that local companies exported €870 million ($953 million) worth of beer to the US last year, and stressed that a loss of that business could eliminate 100,000 out of two million jobs in the industry.

As part of a historic set of new tariffs, Trump announced 10% minimum duties on all imports and additional "reciprocal" tariffs on dozens of countries he said had an unfair trade imbalance with the US. EU exports were hit with a higher 20% rate. The president argued that many nations were "ripping off" America through "harmful policies like currency manipulation and exorbitant value-added taxes."

(RT.com)