On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a warning about imposing a 200% tariff on wine, champagne, and other alcoholic beverages exported from the European Union. This retaliation came in response to the EU’s announcement the previous day that starting from April 1st, they would be imposing a 50% tariff on American whiskey and other products as retaliation for the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs.
In a social media post on Thursday, Trump stated, “If this tariff is not immediately revoked, the United States will soon impose a 200% tariff on all wine, champagne, and alcoholic beverages from France and other EU countries. This is good news for the U.S. wine and champagne industry!”
Following this news, U.S. stock index futures fell, and European liquor manufacturers’ stock prices also declined.
The European Commission announced on Wednesday that they would impose retaliatory 50% tariffs on American goods worth 26 billion euros (approximately 28 billion U.S. dollars), including American whiskey and motorcycles such as Harley-Davidson, in response to the U.S. imposing a 25% comprehensive tariff on European steel and aluminum products.
However, EU officials stated that they are still willing to negotiate with the United States and emphasized that raising tariffs is not in the interests of either party.
Trump, through social media on Thursday, accused the EU of abusing tariffs and taxes, referring to the malicious 50% tariff increase on American whiskey.
The European Commission stated that they would end the tariff suspension for American goods such as whiskey and motorcycles on April 1st, and implement new tariff measures on a range of U.S. products including white chocolate, poultry, and soybeans on April 13th.
In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump declared that he would respond to the EU’s retaliatory tariffs. He said, “I will certainly respond.”
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer responded to the EU’s retaliatory tariffs by stating in a declaration on Wednesday, “For years, the EU has been opposed to America’s drive for reindustrialization.”
“If the EU could act as swiftly in addressing global overcapacity issues as they do in punishing the U.S., our situation today might be entirely different.”
The EU mentioned that the new tariff list would need to be finalized after discussions among member countries and relevant stakeholders.