US President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday, the 14th of March, to impose a 200% tariff on all wines and other alcoholic products from Europe if the European Union (EU) does not lift a planned tax on US whiskey, reports Reuters.
In response to the US tariffs on steel and aluminium, the European Commission (EC) announced on Wednesday that it would impose counter-tariffs on US goods, including whisky, from next month.
But the EC said it remains open to negotiations and believes that higher tariffs are not in anyone’s interest.
“The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive tax and tariff authorities in the world, created for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the US, has just imposed a nasty 50% tariff on whiskey,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, even though the EU tariff on US bourbon will only come into effect on the 1st of April.
If the tariff is not lifted immediately, Trump declared that the US will soon impose a 200% tax on all wines, champagnes and other alcoholic products coming from France and other EU countries.
“This will be a great benefit to wine and champagne companies in the US,” he wrote.
Last year, the EU exported 4.9 billion euros worth of wine to the US, accounting for 29% of total EU wine exports, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat. France accounted for almost half of this and Italy for almost 40%.
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S EXCESSIVE FOCUS ON TARIFFS HAS UNDERMINED INVESTOR, CONSUMER AND BUSINESS CONFIDENCE AND RAISED FEARS OF A RECESSION.
He has also aggravated relations with Canada, a close ally and important trading partner, by repeatedly threatening to annex the neighbouring country.
The EC did not immediately comment on Trump’s statement.
Europe’s spirits and cosmetics industries on Wednesday rejected the EC’s plan to impose tariffs on US-made goods, saying it threatened the continent’s much larger trade with the US.
Other products on which the EU has imposed duties include industrial and agricultural products such as steel and aluminium, textiles, white goods, plastics, poultry, beef, eggs, dairy products, sugar and vegetables.