Spirit is under threat from US imports in classified talks to remove barriers to trade

A post-Brexit trade deal with the US could mean whiskey galore for the UK.

But while drinkers might be celebrating, this could be bad news for scotch whisky distillers who are being warned that their industry faces a glut of imports from US producers if trade barriers come down once the UK leaves the EU.

US trade groups want any trade deal signed between the two countries to drop current EU requirements relating to the ageing of whisky, something that would allow US manufacturers to promote their rival, younger products as whiskey (the spirit made by non-Scottish producers is spelled differently).

Discussions between the two countries over what can and cannot be included in a potential trade deal are being conducted in secrecy, according to transparency campaigners.

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Last December, Greenpeace’s Unearthed investigations unit reported that the UK and the office of the US trade representative had signed an agreement that information, papers and discussions relating to the talks should be considered “sensitive” or “confidential”.

But some key issues can be gleaned from the annual barriers to trade analysis, prepared by the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

The voluminous document’s demands for an end to prohibitions on chlorinated chicken and other meat washed in microbial rinses have been widely aired.

But it also reveals that the US would push the UK to accept GM foods and biotech seeds, and to do away with certain prohibitions on chemical flavourings, live cow exports and endocrine disrupters which affect hormones in animals.

The US also wants protected designation of origin, which safeguards products such as Cornish pasties or Melton Mowbray pork pies, dispensed with because they “undermine access” for US producers.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest EU quality controls require that products labelled as whiskey or whiskey be aged for at least three years. Photograph: Alamy

The analysis discusses the current EU requirement that a product labelled as whisky or whiskey must be aged for a minimum of three years as a quality requirement.

It states: “The United States has a long history of quality whiskey production, particularly by micro-distillers, which has not entailed minimum aging requirements, and views a mandatory three-year aging requirement for whiskey as unwarranted. Recent advances in barrel technology enable US micro- distillers to reduce the aging time for whiskey while producing a product commensurate in quality.”

Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said the whisky issue was the tip of a large iceberg.

“We’re always told that international trade deals will help us sell more whisky – but this latest information from the US trade representative shows a trade deal with the US could actually be a threat to this iconic drink. The US government don’t like our food standards, and they repeatedly tell us that abandoning these standards for imports is essential if they’re going to sign a deal. That means allowing food like chlorine washed chicken and hormone fed beef into our markets. But it could also mean changing the standard on the production of whisky and allowing iconic products like stilton to be made in the US.”

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A spokeswoman for the Scotch Whisky Association said it would campaign for EU food standards to be applied to any trade deal with the US.

“According to EU legislation, whisky produced or sold in the EU is required to be matured for at least 3 years, and meet other well-established criteria,” the spokeswoman said. “We are opposed to the sale of any whisky in the UK that does not comply with the legal requirements for whisky under EU law.”

Dearden said that opinion polls suggested that the majority of people do not want a trade deal that lowers standards and called for discussions to be made more transparent. “We’re going to have to fight for a more democratic trade policy if we want to stop Liam Fox’s attempts to Americanise the UK economy.”