— President Donald Trump has ordered steep new tariffs on steel and aluminum, a move some local breweries fear could impact their bottom lines.

The tariffs will be 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum.

At a small business like Trophy Brewing, workers are always busy. The business will undoubtedly be affected.

“We are surrounded by steel and aluminum, so it’s a big part of the business,” said Les Stewart, chief of brewing operations.

Craft brewing in North Carolina continues to grow, but the vast majority are still small businesses. Many products are delivered in aluminum cans.

“When we have to buy those cans, we have to buy them by the truckload,” Stewart said.

Because of the steel tanks brewers use, the tariffs will also affect future expansion of local breweries.

“The only way we can grow is to invest in steel tanks,” Stewart said.



Brewers are very concerned by the tariffs Trump announced on Thursday.

The president said the tariffs will level the playing field with foreign producers and reignite those industries in the United States.​

“I am defending America’s national security by placing tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum,” Trump said. “Our industries have been targeted for year and years, decades in fact, by unfair foreign trade practices.”

He signed the proclamations surrounded by workers who said jobs would return to their factories.

But some worry it could increase the cost of doing business in other places.

"From equipment costs to packaging material costs, these proposed increases can put a chill on one of the fastest-growing industries in the state," Andrew Lemley, of the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild, said in a statement.



According to the Guild, craft brewing adds more than a billion dollars to the North Carolina economy.

“You could really slow growth in our industry, and that is what I am worried about,” Stewart said.

The tariffs are expected to take effect on March 23. Canada and Mexico are currently exempt.