In an escalation of the ongoing trade war with Europe, President Trump is now threatening a 200% tariff on European alcohol in response to the European Union's retaliation against U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs.
The 25% tariff on aluminum and steel went into effect on Wednesday — a move that the EU calls "unjustified." In response, the EU announced tariffs on €26 billion ($28 billion) worth of U.S. goods, including agricultural products and bourbon.
Posting on his Truth Social account, Trump called the EU "the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World."
He added that if the bloc doesn't walk back a planned 50% tariff on whisky, then "the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & 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."
The global alcohol market has faced a challenging past few years, but was expecting a 2025 that promised "moderate recovery," according to IWSR, a global drinks data and insight provider. But that was before the threatened tariffs.
Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, urged Trump to reach an agreement with the EU that avoids any further tariffs and harm to the U.S. spirits industry.
"The U.S.-EU spirits sector is the model for fair and reciprocal trade, having zero-for-zero tariffs since 1997," Swonger said in a statement to NPR. "The U.S. spirits sector supports more than $200 billion in economic activity, 1.7 million jobs across production, distribution, hospitality and retail, and the purchase of 2.8 billion pounds of grains from American farmers."
"We urge President Trump to secure a spirits agreement with the EU to get us back to zero-for-zero tariffs, which benefits the hospitality industry and U.S. craft distillers who export their products," he added. "We want toasts not tariffs."
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