President Trump’s tariff on imported steel and aluminum goes into effect today, and a Bay area craft brewer warns consumers should expect to pay more for beer.

• Most of steel used to build beer tankers comes from China
• Import tariff places 25 percent tax on steel
• Aluminum brewers used for canning also now more expensive

“We’ve calculated about 50 cents (on) potentially a four-pack,” said Big Storm Brewing co-owner, Leo “LJ” Govoni. “Now a lot of people have said, ‘Well, just eat that margin.' The problem is the three-tier system -- everyone adds a layer of cost as part of the process.”

Big Storm Brewing uses a lot of aluminum with beer cans stacked to the ceiling in their Pinellas Park warehouse. Govoni said had that tariff kicked in sooner, he wouldn’t have the equipment to get his beer in those cans.

“We would not have been able to afford our packaging line,” he said. “So, now we wouldn’t have been able to have our beer in cans from the beginning.”

Govoni said his business started out in an Odessa garage five years ago. Big Storm Brewing has since grown to three taprooms with 20 giant high-grade stainless steel tankers that hold thousands of gallons of beer.

Stainless steel tankers filled with thousands of gallons of beer at Big Storm Brewing in Pinellas Park, Thursday, March 22, 2018. (Josh Rojas, staff)

“These tanks behind us came from China,” said Govoni. “Which is why they weren’t as expensive as they would or could have been if they were made in North America.”

President Trump’s import tariff places a 25 percent tax on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. Govoni said the expanded list of countries exempted from that tariff will have no effect on his rising costs.

The only brewery steel tank maker in the south agrees.

Kyle Cureton, who owns BrewFab in St. Petersburg, said a majority of the high-grade stainless steel comes from China, which is not on the exempt list. Cureton said his company uses stainless steel from the United States, but he expects that price to rise because of the tariff.

Cureton believes domestic manufacturers are going to raise their prices because they can. Govoni said he’s worried about that, too.

“Really what’s going to happen is that American product is just going to increase in price now,” he said. “I don’t see how this helps at least our industry. Maybe others, but it’s not going to do anything good for the consumer. I can tell you that.”