NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The maker of your favorite canned beverage is likely looking at how new metal tariffs will impact their business.
President Donald Trump wants to boost domestic production of aluminum and steel, but it's likely that consumers will feel some of the early effects.
On Monday, the president announced the 25% tariffs. Roughly half of all aluminum and a quarter of all steel used in the U.S. is imported.
The tariffs could impact everything from cars to construction to cans.
We wanted to know how it would affect consumers who likely are not buying those metals in bulk, so we checked in with TailGate Brewery.
"Our goal is to absorb as much of this price fluctuation as possible," said Ryan Bruchey, director of brewing operations at TailGate Brewery.
TailGate is Tennessee's fastest-growing brewery, and celebrating 10 years in Nashville this month.
While production is unlikely to change because of the recently announced metal tariffs, they are carefully looking at their costs.
"We try not to pass anything along to the consumer because there's only so much people will pay for a six-pack," Bruchey said.
At their headquarters in West Nashville, six days a week, sometimes more than once a day, they're canning one of their 280 unique crafts. They have pallets of cans on standby, but the trick is to have just what they need and not extra, Bruchey explained.
"The goal with any business is as little as possible. Only what you need to meet demand... We try to buy them a full truckload at a time, that's about 25 pallets. There are 8,000 cans per pallet, so roughly speaking we buy a quarter of a million cans at a time," he said.
The Brewers Association wrote about the new metal tariffs earlier this week. They said this act mirrors one made under the first Trump administration, but in 2018, trading partners like Canada, the European Union, and South Korea received exemptions from those tariffs. The president has stated that those countries will not be exempt from these newly announced tariffs.
"Margins are razor thin for beers, so what we've been able to do is diversify. We offer sweet tea and THC drinks. We launched a cold brew line. So these are other things that use the same input of aluminum cans but have a different margin structure and allow us to insulate some of that so we don't have to pass that along to the consumer," Bruchey said.
TailGate plans to keep an eye on the trade dispute. They want to see people enjoying their products for years to come.
"Being out a bar, restaurant, liquor store and seeing someone grab your product and enjoy it not knowing you're standing next to them — that will never get old to me," Bruchey said.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at hannah.mcdonald@newschannel5.com.
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