For years, I’ve been fortunate enough to own and operate the Sunrise Market in Phoenix. As a store owner, I keep a close eye on what products my customers gravitate toward. When it comes to beer, Sunrise shoppers often tell me they love our selection of small, independent, American-made craft beers. These are our best sellers by a wide margin. That’s why I’m gravely concerned about the pressure many American breweries, large and small, are facing.

Too many American breweries have been forced to close in recent years. I’ve witnessed this firsthand, and it’s left me unable to stock beers that my customers loved. This domino effect runs through the entire supply chain network of the beverage industry. It impacts the farmers who grow the ingredients, the distributors who move the product, the stores like mine that carry it, and the customers who come in specifically looking for it. Every time we lose an American brewery, it chips away at the whole network, a network many people rely on for their livelihoods.

Foreign imports now control nearly 25% of the U.S. beer market. More than 80% of those imports come from Mexico. In my opinion, this is not because Mexican beer is superior to American brews. It’s because the cost differences for companies on either side of the southern border are extreme. For example, Mexican brewery workers make an average of just $3,700 per year. Compare that to American union brewery workers, who make nearly $80,000 per year. That, along with all the other structural differences between the Mexican and American economies, makes the competition totally unfair.

What frustrates me most is that consumer demand is not the issue. My customers want American craft beer. They ask for it specifically and they care where it comes from. But the market conditions created by foreign imports make it increasingly difficult for the domestic brewers they love to remain in operation.

Arizona has developed one of the country’s most vibrant craft brewing communities. The beers produced here reflect the character and creativity of the people who make them. My customers recognize the quality difference and actively choose American craft options. Unfortunately, most beer drinkers in the U.S. have no knowledge of the dire situation going on behind the scenes. That needs to change.

There is a solution now being considered in Washington, D.C., and it’s one I support: targeted tariffs on beer imported from Mexico. They are a straightforward measure that will help to correct the massive imbalance in our beer market.  While I have nothing against Mexican beer, and I proudly sell it in my store along with American-made options, I think it is important for us as a country to defend our domestic manufacturing base. We’ve lost much of it to Mexico already, and I would hate to see us lose our brewing industry, too. 

The decisionmakers in Washington have the power to level the playing field for our domestic beer producers by imposing these tariffs. If they do, it will help ensure that my customers will always have access to the quality, American-made beers they love.

Bob Barno is owner of Sunrise Market in Arizona.