United States President Donald Trump threatened the European Union with 200% tariffs on wine, champagne and other drinks produced in the 27-nation bloc after the EU imposed a 50% tariff on American whiskey.
President Trump said in a post on the social media site Truth Social that the EU is “one of the most hostile and abusive tariff and tax authorities in the world.” He said the EU was formed in 1993 “for the sole purpose of exploiting the United States” economically.
Later, asked by a reporter at the White House if he might back down from threatening tariffs on America's geopolitical allies, President Trump said that "they've taken advantage of us for years, and they're not going to take advantage of us anymore. No, I'm not going to back down at all - on aluminum, or steel, or cars."
Over the past month, President Trump has engaged in a tariff war with the United States' largest trading partners – Mexico, Canada, China and the EU – in an effort to stop, as he says, the flow of drugs, particularly fentanyl, into the United States from Mexico and Canada, and to force companies to close their operations abroad and relocate them to the United States, creating more jobs for Americans.
On Wednesday, President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum exports to the United States from 35 countries, including European Union countries.
Europe responded swiftly by imposing tariffs on $28 billion worth of American exports to countries with long-standing close relations with the United States, while Canada imposed new tariffs on about $20.7 billion in American goods.
Canada also requested consultations at the World Trade Organization with the United States regarding the imposition of import tariffs on steel and aluminum products from Canada, the WTO announced on Thursday.
The new EU measures will apply not only to steel and aluminum products, but also to textiles, household appliances and agricultural products. The consequences are also expected to be felt on motorcycles, whiskey, peanut butter, or denim clothing, as was felt during President Trump's first term in 2017-2021.
The EU tariffs are intended to exert political pressure on the United States while minimizing damage to Europe. European officials say the tariffs, which are paid by companies and then passed on to consumers, are aimed at hitting products from Republican-dominated states, such as beef and chicken from Kansas and Nebraska, wood products from Alabama and Georgia, and alcoholic beverages from Kentucky and Tennessee.
Alcoholic beverage producers are suffering the consequences of disputes over steel and aluminum.
Chris Swonger, head of the United States Distilled Beverages Council, called the EU's decision to impose tariffs on American spirits "deeply disappointing and will severely damage successful efforts to restore American exports to EU countries."
The EU is a major destination for American whiskey, with exports increasing by 60% over the past three years after some previously imposed tariffs were suspended.
On Thursday, Mr. Swonger said in a statement that “the US-EU beverage sector is a model for fair and reciprocal trade, with zero tariffs since 1997.” He called for an end to the tariff war on beverages between the United States and Europe, adding that “We want a toast, not tariffs.”
The tariff announcements have sparked a massive sell-off in stocks, with prices on the three major U.S. stock exchanges falling in recent days. The S&P 500 closed Thursday down another 10% from a record low hit last month.
But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that he was not worried.
"We're focused on the real economy," he said. "I'm not worried about a little bit of volatility for three weeks. I can't tell you the market is going to go up today, tomorrow, or next week."
He dismissed concerns about President Trump's threat to impose higher tariffs on European drinks.
"One or two items with a trade block - I'm not sure that's a big deal for the markets," he said.
President Trump said in his social media post that if Europe implements the 50% tariff on whiskey distilled in America, he will impose a 200% tariff on "all wine, champagne and spirits products coming from France and EU countries. This will be a very good thing for wine and champagne businesses in the United States."
President Trump also criticized The Wall Street Journal, the nation's leading business publication, for refusing to support his tariff plans. An editorial in the paper this week said that "most Americans understand that tariffs are a tax on consumers and businesses."
The US president said the newspaper "has no idea what they are doing or what they are saying. They are owned by the dirty stream of thought of the European Union". He said that "the (paper's) thinking is outdated and weak, and very bad for the United States"./ VOA (A2 Televizion)
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