Kentucky is actually firmly in the hands of the Republicans. But many are not particularly good at Trump’s customs policy. With whiskey burners and farmers, resentment grows.
You don’t have to sip at the bourbon in the distillery by Tom Bard: take a deep breath, and a slight swaps appear. Since 2019, a wide variety of whiskey varieties have been produced in the Bard Distillery in Graham, western Kentucky.
Now the tariffs that US President Donald Trump imposed makes life difficult for whiskey burners. “They meet us in many ways,” he complains. “Not only because we have just started exporting to other countries such as Canada or the EU.”
Bourbon should be more expensive
Most distilleries in Kentucky move into most of their raw materials from abroad: the bottles, labels, the closures. Trump’s tariffs could not only make bourbon sales more difficult, but also make purchases more expensive. Bard already understands that the tariffs should create the incentive to use domestic products.
But the problem is: there is currently no. The bourbon from the Bard Distillery should now be more expensive, because the additional costs will have to pass bard to its customers.
“This is a tax increase!”
The Farmer Jim Coleman is similarly upset about Trump’s customs policy at the other end of Kentucky, near Lexington, the farmer Jim Coleman. “This is a tax increase!” He complains. He is actually through and through Republicans, precisely because he believes in low taxes, little regulation and growth.
Trump, on the other hand, rase with 100 miles per hour in the opposite direction. The farmer actually wanted to expand his Coleman Crest Farm, which mainly cultivates organic products for the domestic market, this year. But out of concern for diesel prices and personnel costs, he initially put these plans on hold.
According to the Chamber of Commerce
Asli Watts currently hears complaints like Coleman’s Coleman. Ashli is the President of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, the state chamber of the state, based in the state capital of Frankfort. The Chamber of Commerce knows a lot of uncertainty and fear in Kentucky.
Trump’s trade policy is certainly not popular in the state, which also lives from the auto industry and other manufacturing businesses. “Because everything is in the balance, no business is currently investing and does not hire any staff,” complains Ashli.
That is why the Chamber of Commerce is now tirelessly putting pressure on Kentucky’s senators and deputies. And with success: Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul from Kentucky are currently the only Republican senators who reject Trump’s tariffs as harmful additional tax.
