Viewpoint: Let’s help our American brewers
Bob Bergren
Before I served in the Montana Legislature, including as the 50th Speaker of the Montana House, I was a firefighter and union leader in Havre. My heart has always been with the working people of this state and our nation broadly.
Throughout my career, I’ve seen how the policy choices our leaders make can affect workers’ lives, and so I feel called to speak up when I see an opportunity to help. There is an opportunity before the Trump Administration right now to protect our American brewing industry and all of the farmers, truckers, and more who rely on it by imposing tariffs on beer imported from Mexico, and I urge them to act on it.
The stretch of north-central Montana where I come from is known as the Golden Triangle, and it’s where some of the finest wheat in the world is grown. This has helped make agriculture Montana’s number one industry, contributing more than $4.4 billion every year to our economy and employing one out of every six workers in our state. Montana boasts the second-largest amount of farmland in the United States. For that reason, when Montana farmers do well, Montana does well.
Most people don’t realize how closely connected Montana agriculture is with the domestic brewing industry. American brewers not only purchase Montana wheat, but they have also built grain elevators and processing facilities right here in our state. All told, they contribute millions to the tax base in rural communities that don’t have a lot of other revenue sources. Montana’s craft brewery industry alone supports more than 1,000 permanent, year-round jobs.
Unfortunately, the American brewing industry is being undercut by foreign competition. In recent years, American breweries have struggled to keep up with the flood of imported beer mostly coming from Mexico. Nearly a quarter of our beer market is now imported, up from 14 percent in 2013. Eighty percent of that comes from Mexico. While I have nothing against Mexican beer, the problem is that Mexican producers have numerous unfair advantages. The workers in their breweries earn an average of $3,700 per year, compared to the family-sustaining wages of nearly $80,000 per year earned by American union brewery workers. Mexican breweries have fewer regulations to deal with and pay less in taxes, putting our workers at an unfair disadvantage.
Our labor unions have recognized this problem, with the Teamsters and IBEW among the numerous major unions that have come out in favor of tariffs on Mexican beer. Montana workers and farmers deserve a level playing field. If the Trump Administration moves forward with the tariffs it is now considering, it will be a big step forward toward this goal.
Bob Bergren is a retired firefighter, union leader, and the 50th Speaker of the Montana House of Representatives. He lives in Havre, Montana.