US tariffs halve Scottish salmon exports and cut whisky shipments

Tariffs hit US sales

Scottish salmon exports to the US fell 45.6% in the first quarter of 2026, according to Food and Drink Federation data reported on Thursday, as tariffs continued to weigh on transatlantic trade.

Scotch whisky shipments to the US also fell sharply, dropping 27% to £182.1 million in the quarter. Whisky export volumes to the US fell 14.7% over the same period.

The figures point to a wider slowdown in UK food and drink sales to the American market. Overall exports of UK food and drink to the US fell 28% year on year to £529.6 million.

The decline comes despite an April announcement by Donald Trump that he would remove the tariff on Scotch whisky after the visit of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. The latest quarterly data suggest that any relief had not yet fed through to trade flows.

Wider export slowdown

The Food and Drink Federation said total UK food and drink exports to all markets fell 4.8% to £5.7 billion in Q1 2026. Export volumes fell 8.9% to two million tonnes, the lowest first-quarter level in about a decade outside the pandemic period.

That means the pressure was not confined to one product or one destination. The US was the biggest market to show the sharpest damage in the quarter, but the broader data also point to weaker momentum across the sector.

Karen Betts, the chief executive of the FDF, said higher UK production costs and changing regulation were hurting competitiveness overseas. The trade body’s figures suggest the industry is still struggling to offset those headwinds even where there has been some political movement on tariffs.

Why salmon and whisky matter

Scottish salmon and Scotch whisky are two of Scotland’s most important export industries, with jobs and investment tied to demand in the US market. A fall of this size is significant because it affects both premium food exports and one of the UK’s most recognisable drink brands.

Salmon Scotland said production levels had remained steady, but that strong domestic demand and higher freight and insurance costs were affecting exports to some markets. That suggests the tariff impact is interacting with wider commercial pressures rather than acting alone.

The Times reported that the decline was linked to tariffs introduced under Trump and to a later 10% duty that applied to most countries after a US Supreme Court ruling. The trade data do not isolate the effect of any single policy, but they do show that the US market weakened markedly in the quarter.

What to watch next

The key question now is whether further tariff changes, including the promised whisky relief, begin to improve second-quarter export data.

For now, the Q1 figures show a clear setback for Scottish salmon, Scotch whisky and the wider UK food and drink sector in its biggest overseas market. More government and industry reaction is likely as exporters assess whether the weaker US demand is temporary or becoming a longer-term shift.