Trump announces plan to lift 15% tariff on Irish whiskey

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Sunday at the close of a golf tournament in Ireland that he plans to remove a 15% tariff on Irish whiskey. The Republican president made the announcement at the trophy ceremony for the Irish Open at Doonbeg, Ireland.

Trump said he had been asked about the issue by everyone, including some of the golfers.

“Everybody’s been bugging me” to do it, Trump said. “And I said, ‘On behalf of the United States of America, I am going to take the tariffs off Irish whiskey.'”

The announcement drew loud cheers.

Irish whiskey currently faces the 15% tariff Trump imposed on imports from the European Union. Trump announced in May that he was lifting certain tariffs on U.K. whiskey, which includes Scotch and spirits made in Northern Ireland.

In May, the Irish Whiskey Association called for the tariffs to be removed, arguing the step would help many U.S. companies with Irish products in their portfolios and avoid uncertainty for consumers.

Details on how soon the tariff would be lifted were not immediately available.

Trump said in May that he gave the United Kingdom a tariff break on whiskey after King Charles III and Queen Camilla visited the White House. “The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!” Trump posted on social media.