Whiskey producers in Northern Ireland, who are scratching their heads over Donald Trump’s new tariffs and the possible impact on their businesses, need only a few basics of US country of origin determination (“Irish whiskey’s tariffs fate clouded in north-south confusions”, Report, FT Weekend, April 5).
In general (ie absent a preferential trade agreement) the country of origin of an imported article is the country in which the last “substantial transformation” occurred. See the case Anheuser-Busch Brewing Ass’n vs United States, 207 U.S. 556, 562 (1908). Substantial transformation happens when there is a change in name, character, or use.
Nothing in my letter should be considered legal advice. Yet it seems unlikely that product moved from the Republic to Northern Ireland only for ageing and bottling would satisfy the substantial transformation test to qualify as UK origin when exported to the US. Then again, these are topsy-turvy times in international trade.
Yvonne M Hilst
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Former Law Clerk to The Honourable Gregory Carman
US Court of International Trade in New York
