Swedes buy a lot of alcohol and beauty products from the USA.

But goods could become more expensive when the EU responds to Donald Trump's steel tariffs with its own blacklist. And that could have consequences for Swedish alcohol manufacturers.

Last year, goods worth just over SEK 30 billion were shipped from the US to Sweden, including everything from strollers and spacecraft to coal and art, according to figures from the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and Statistics Sweden.

One of the most sought-after goods from the United States was alcoholic beverages, which were among the 15 most imported product categories last year, worth SEK 550 million.

If Trump's steel tariffs become a reality and the EU Commission's countermeasures with punitive tariffs on whiskey, among other things, are implemented, it is not only the import of American spirits that risks becoming more expensive, according to the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

”"Swedish companies exported alcoholic beverages worth almost 2 billion kronor to the US last year. If the EU were to impose penalties on, for example, American whiskey, I fear that Trump could come back with his own alcohol tariffs. That would harm Swedish companies," says Andreas Hatzigeorgiou, chief economist at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

According to an unofficial list leaked from the European Commission and published by the news site Politico, food and beauty products such as lipstick will also be subject to tariffs.

Andreas Hatzigeorgiou believes that the fact that American makeup, which is imported in large quantities to Sweden, could end up on the Commission's blacklist is linked to France.

”"It is very possible that when the European Commission opened up for countermeasures, several stakeholders came running with suggestions. For European cosmetics companies, a punitive tariff is a great idea, many of which are found in France, which has great power in the EU."”

Total exports of goods from Sweden to the USA amounted to just over SEK 90 billion in 2017.

Source: TT