BUFFALO, N.Y. -- National lobby and trade group American Beverage Licensees is holding its quarterly meeting in Washington, D.C. this week.

Member Mark O'Callaghan, the owner of Exit 9 Wine and Liquor Warehouse in Clifton Park, New York, said most of the conversation is about tariffs.

"It's not changing daily," O'Callaghan said. "It's changing hourly."

The Trump administration has already imposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian products including liquor. On Thursday morning, the president threatened 200% tariffs on European liquor and wine in response to planned European tariffs on American whiskey.

"We weren't anticipating that. We were talking about whiskeys and tequila," O'Callaghan said.

O'Callaghan, also a New York State Liquor Store Association board member, said the stores are lobbying the administration to exclude their industry from the current trade wars.

"We're a unique in the fact that a lot of our products, most of our imported products are specific to the designation such as tequila can only come from Mexico. We can't open a distillery in the states and make tequila. Champagne, true champagne, can only come from Champagne, France. Cognac can only come from Cognac, France," he said.

If the tariffs continue, however, he says it will have a major impact on liquor stores. He said European wines represent roughly 30% of his business and New York is the biggest consumer of European wine in the country.

The Trump administration said the tariffs will help domestic producers.

"Will this help the California and New York wineries? I'm sure it will but I think in the long run it will affect a lot more than that," O'Callaghan said.

He pointed out Canadian stores, for instance, are already pulling American wine and liquor off their shelves. Suppliers are also dealing with increased cost of packaging.

"Our business partners, our suppliers are going to have to try to make profits up elsewhere. If they're not selling, they're going to have to start selling in the states to keep operations afloat," he said.

Alcohol purchasing in New York state is a regulated three-tiered system in which distributors purchase from producers and importers and sell to stores. They are required to set their price points monthly which means the soonest those prices on the shelves could start going up is next month.

Getting more certainty is important as well because if they set prices higher expecting tariffs, they can't be changed until the next month even if the U.S. reaches agreements with these countries. Finally, he says a lot of distributors may chose not to purchase imports because of the cost, which could mean less variety.