Minnesota brewer worried about tariff impacts on his business

A Minnesota brewer says tariffs could leave your wallet a little lighter the next time you order a frosty can of beer.

Patrick Sundberg, owner of Jack Pine Brewery in Baxter, joined U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar to talk about the impacts of tariffs on Minnesota businesses.  They were joined by Dan Glessing with the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation.

Sundberg said 70% of small breweries in Minnesota are using aluminum cans for their beers, equaling about 200 microbrewers.  Many are using grain products imported from Canada.

The Trump administration placed a 25% tariff on aluminum and steel that went into effect at midnight on Wednesday.  Canada is planning retaliatory tariffs in response.

Sundberg says he and other brewers are facing uncertainty going forward.

“I’ve been in business now for 12 years.  The first 8 years, costs were fairly consistent.  The last 4 years, we’ve seen costs all over the board,” he said.

Senator Klobuchar stated over $7 billion of goods are exported to Canada from Minnesota.  That makes Canada bigger than Minnesota’s 2nd and 3rd largest trading partners.

Klobuchar is concerned tariffs could leave Minnesota out of any future trade deals with foreign countries.

“We do a lot of business with the world.  A lot of our businesses export to the world and we want to keep that.  We don’t want all these other countries trading with each other and we’re left out of the scene,” said Sen. Klobuchar.

Wednesday’s press conference also welcomed U.S. Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona and Steven Zylstra, president of the Arizona Tech Council.  Both spoke on the impacts of tariffs on goods from Mexico, like produce, auto parts and machinery.