MLB teams change beer labels from ‘domestic’ to ‘American’ amid Trump tariff threats

Nothing is more iconic of the United States than beer at a baseball stadium, but as the 2025 season starts, a symbolic change has been made to chime with President Trump’s mission to Make America Great Again. The post MLB teams change beer labels from ‘domestic’ to ‘American’ amid Trump tariff threats appeared first on The Drinks Business.

Apr 1, 2025 - 10:18

MLB teams change beer labels from ‘domestic’ to ‘American’ amid Trump tariff threats

Nothing is more iconic of the United States than beer at a baseball stadium, but as the 2025 season starts, a symbolic change has been made to chime with President Trump’s mission to Make America Great Again. Fans of MLB team LA Dodgers gather outside Dodgers Stadium following MLB beer label changes, coinciding with Trump's tariffs threats.

For the opening weekend of the 2025 season, six home stadiums of Major League Baseball (MLB) teams changed labelling to alter the word “domestic” to “American” to describe the beers they served. This is a direct dig at imported beers such as Constellation Brand’s Mexican Modelo and Corona brews, which have become best-sellers in the US and fit with Trump’s threat to slap tariffs on imported drinks, especially those produced in Mexico and Canada. All the teams to have made the change so far are all sponsored by Anheuser Busch InBev (ABI), and a further 11 are said to be about to make the switch. Unsurprisingly, they, too are all sponsored by ABI and its brands.

America's game, America's beer

Days after Trump moved into the White House, ABI North America Zone CEO and vice chairman of the Beer Institute, Brendan Whitworth, wrote to the brewer’s distributors to register his discontent with the word “domestic” and called for a labelling change. “I don’t like the word ‘domestic.’ It’s a word that, for some reason, has been used for years to describe American-made beer,” Whitworth wrote. “Baseball isn’t popularly known as the domestic pastime, our troops don’t salute the domestic flag, and our country wasn’t built on the domestic dream. […] It’s about time the whole industry begins to unilaterally use one of the strongest adjectives available to us – American. Leave ‘domestic’ for other less glamorous uses.” Whitworth urged all of ABI’s wholesalers to change “domestic” to “American” on bar menus, signs, venue boards and reports. He also encouraged data analytics companies like Circana and Nielsen to do the same.

On-trade backing

Fox News (which supported Trump’s presidential campaign) says hundreds of bars, restaurants and venues have made the change since Whitworth issued his plea. The Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds have made the change with four additional so far unnamed rivals about to do so with, according to ABI. America being America, the two most successful MLB teams played off against each other last October for the annual championship, called the “World Series”. All the entrants are from America, except one, the Toronto Blue Jays. Given the current trade war between Canada and the US, it is unlikely their fans will be drinking “American” beer this season.