Much ado has been made about the competing economic visions presented by Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. As November’s election approaches, Harris’ campaign is attempting to bring younger voters into the fold by repackaging Donald Trump’s tariff-centric economic plan as a threat to a beloved pastime: drinking.
On Thursday, the Harris campaign launched “Trump’s Tequila Tax,” a social media campaign aimed at tying Trump’s proposed 10-to-20-percent universal tariff plan — depending on the day you ask him — on all imported goods.
One TikTok produced by the campaign features a young man warning that “the Trump tequila tax is insane,” and that a 20 percent tax on all imported goods means “he wants to tax your tequila, and your Coronas, your Modelos, your Hennessy all of it.”
The man then notes that Harris “wants to support small businesses like mom-and-pop liquor stores and locally owned bars,” by enacting a $50,000 tax deduction for small businesses. “If you want to stop the Trump tequila tax vote for Harris-Walz,” he concludes.
Economists warn that broad-based tariffs on imported goods would do the opposite of lowering prices for consumers. Economists warn that a 10 percent tariff would amount to the average American spending an additional $1,700 a year in increased costs. The Harris campaign holds that the 20 percent proposal floated by Trump is essentially a “Trump sales tax,” that would “raise prices on middle-class families by almost $4,000 a year.”
Non-domestic liquor and alcohol products would absolutely be affected by such a tax. Tequila is produced exclusively in Mexico, while cognac and champagne come from France — but the tax would theoretically affect any imported beer, wine, and spirit that is currently available to American shoppers.
Companies will “be very clear with any administration and any government that if you increase tariffs on our products, we are going to pass it on to your citizens,” Laurence Whyatt — head of European beverages research at Barclays Investment Bank — told Just Drinks, an industry publication. If Trump “goes ahead with these tariffs, then of course, that does cause some complications because a lot of what is consumed in the U.S. is not made in the U.S.”
The United States is the world’s largest importer of beer and tequila, and over the last three decades Mexican brands have gobbled up market shares once dominated by domestic groups Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Grabbing a drink with friends is already more expensive than it used to be, and as young Americans struggle in an economy that doesn’t offer them the same prosperity it did to their parents and grandparents, the Harris campaign wants to ensure that they know Trump could be making their weekend bar tab a lot more expensive.
