U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened the European Union with 200% tariffs on wine, champagne and other spirits produced in the 27-nation bloc after the EU levied what he said was “a nasty 50% tariff” on American-distilled whiskey.
Trump contended in a post on his Truth Social media platform that the EU is “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World.” He said it was formed in 1993 “for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States” economically.
In the last month, Trump has been waging a tit-for-tat tariff fight with its biggest trading partners — Mexico, Canada, China and the EU — in what he says is an effort to staunch the flow of drugs, especially fentanyl, into the United States from Mexico and Canada, and also convince manufacturers to close their operations overseas and move them to the U.S. to create more American jobs.
On Wednesday, Trump levied 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum exports to the U.S. from 35 countries, including the EU bloc.
Europe quickly retaliated with its own tariffs on $28 billion worth of U.S. exports to countries that have long been U.S. geopolitical allies, while Canada imposed new tariffs on $20.7 billion worth of U.S. exports to its northern neighbor.
The new EU measures will apply not only to steel and aluminum products but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods. Motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans also will be hit, as they were during Trump’s first term that ran from 2017 to 2021.
The EU duties aimed for political pressure points in the U.S. while minimizing additional damage to Europe. EU officials have said its tariffs, which are paid by importing companies and the cost of which is then mostly passed on to consumers, are targeting products from states dominated by Republicans like Trump, such as beef and poultry from Kansas and Nebraska, wood products from Alabama and Georgia, and liquor from Kentucky and Tennessee.
Spirits producers have become collateral damage in the steel and aluminum dispute.
Chris Swonger, head of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, called the EU move to tax U.S.-produced spirits “deeply disappointing and will severely undercut the successful efforts to rebuild U.S. spirits exports in EU countries.”
The EU is a major destination for U.S. whiskey, with exports surging 60% in the past three years after an earlier set of tariffs was suspended.
On Thursday, Swonger said in a statement, “The U.S.-EU spirits sector is the model for fair and reciprocal trade, having zero-for-zero tariffs since 1997.” He urged the end to a tariff fight over spirits between the U.S. and Europe, saying, “We want toasts not tariffs.”
Trump’s tariff wars have led to a broad Wall Street stock selloff, with the three major U.S. stock indexes plunging in recent days, with stocks falling again on Thursday in early trading. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC he was not worried.
“We’re focused on the real economy,” he said. “I’m not concerned about a little bit of volatility over three weeks. I can’t tell you the market is going to go up today, tomorrow, next week.”
He dismissed concerns about Trump’s threat to impose bigger tariffs on European spirits.
“One or two items with one trading bloc — I’m not sure why that’s a big deal for the markets,” he said.
Trump said in his social media post that if Europe follows through on its 50% tariff on U.S.-distilled whiskey, he will impose the 200% tariff on “all wines, champagne & alcoholic products coming out of France and other E.U. represented countries. This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”
Trump also attacked The Wall Street Journal newspaper, the country’s leading business publication, for refusing to support his tariff plans. A Journal editorial said this week that “most Americans understand that tariffs are a tax on consumers and businesses.”
The U.S. leader said the newspaper “has no idea what they are doing or saying. They are owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union.” He said the newspaper’s “thinking is antiquated and weak, and very bad for the USA.”
