TULSA, Okla. — For those who like supporting local craft breweries, President Donald Trump’s 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports could make their beer cans — and people’s favorite IPAs — more expensive down the line.
2 News Oklahoma’s Douglas Braff talked to local brewers about how this could affect their bottom line.
WATCH: Could tariff hurt local breweries?
Tony Peck started Tulsa’s Dead Armadillo Craft Brewing in 2013 and has seen success with selling his canned beers at retailers and in his taproom. They can distribute several beers across Oklahoma and Kansas.
But then came the tariffs.
“It's, you know, not thrilling,” he said, recalling when he found out about the tariffs. “You kind of have that little moment of, ‘Ugh, here comes the next thing.’”
Peck told us the price of their raw aluminum cans (a.k.a. “bright cans”) will most likely increase, along with the lids.
“Generally, bright cans cost us around 11 to 14 cents a can,” he explained.
When asked by how much he thought the price could go up, he laughed and replied, “Oh, I have no idea.”
Chase Healey runs American Solera, a brewery and taproom in midtown Tulsa.
Like Peck, Healey told 2 News there’s "a lot of uncertainty" right now but that he’s not worried — at least for the time being.
“But also,” he mentioned, “there's that unknown of like, ‘Oh, shoot, I guess this could get ugly.’”
However, Healey and Peck said the pandemic-era disruptions got them used to supply-chain issues and price changes.
Healey said, “At the end of the day, this stinks, it stinks for everyone, and we'll make it work.”
When asked if he thought the tariffs would impact his beer prices at all, Peck said, “I think it probably will eventually.”
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“One of the concerns is that, as prices go up for ingredients, everyone's prices are gonna eventually go up. The shelf prices will eventually go up, if it's enough,” he continued. “One of the concerns is that the retailers will start shrinking their shelf space and going with maybe more national brands, just because prices have increased.”
But Healey thinks there could possibly be a silver lining, depending on how things shake out. The White House also put a 25% levy on all beer imports, which will almost certainly make foreign beers pricier.
Healey told us “hopefully” more people buy domestic beer, saying, “I guess the point that the president's hoping for is that, all of a sudden, the cervezas are a little more expensive than your local craft beer.”
Despite that thought, he wasn’t sure if the tariffs were worth the economic hardship and confusion, especially for small businesses.
“Man, I guess I'm not trying to sound sympathetic to the situation other than I understand it,” he said. “But I don't know that we're fixing it the right way.”
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