US-China ‘beer war’ likely to go flat as drinkers’ preference for local brews takes the fizz out of proposed tariffs
US government wants to tax the small amount of Chinese beer imported each year even though Americans are more likely to grab a domestic brew or one from Mexico
As trade tensions heat up between the world’s two largest economies, Americans and the Chinese have one thing in common: when it comes to beer, they prefer their local brew.
The world’s two largest nations of beer drinkers plan to slap a 25 per cent tariff on each other’s brews in a showdown over trade, with China announcing retaliatory tariffs on US$60 billion of products – including beer – on Friday.
But with little of the elbow bending actually for each other’s brew, the proposed tariffs would barely take the fizz out of anybody’s beer.
Firstly, it is the world’s biggest beer market, with the Chinese people drinking 45 billion litres (12 trillion gallons) of beer last year, compared to 24 billion litres consumed in the second-ranked US, according to data from Euromonitor International, an independent market research firm.
Secondly, China is home of the world’s bestselling beer, Snow, as well as internationally recognised Tsingtao.