President Trump vowed Thursday to slap 200% tariffs on wine and different alcoholic drinks imported from European Union international locations as he escalates his commerce struggle geared toward geopolitical associates and foes alike.
Trump mentioned he would up the ante after the E.U. imposed its personal 50% tax on American whiskey, a transfer that itself was a response to the White Home tariff on European metal and aluminum.
Bottles Champagne are on the market at a wine seller store as President Donald Trump threatened a 200% tariff on European wine, Champagne and spirits if the European Union goes ahead with a deliberate tariff on American whiskey, Thursday, March 13, 2025 in Ville d’Avray, exterior Paris. (AP Picture/Christophe Ena)
“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,” Trump wrote on his social media website. “This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”
Europe signaled it wouldn’t again down.
“Trump is escalating the trade war he has chosen,” Laurent Saint-Martin, the French delegate minister for overseas commerce, mentioned on X. “France, together with the European Commission and our partners, is determined to fight back. We will not give in to threats and will always protect our industries.”
It’s the second day this week that Trump commerce struggle headlines have roiled world markets.
Trump threatened to double his deliberate tariffs in opposition to Canada on Tuesday after Ontario provincial Premier Doug Ford mentioned he would add an enormous surcharge on electrical energy headed throughout the border to the U.S. Each side backed down later within the day.
The brand new president’s first weeks in workplace have been marked by near-daily drama on tariffs, which Trump believes can be utilized as leverage to realize different financial and geopolitical goals.
He says that taxing imports may trigger some financial ache however would finally result in extra home manufacturing and higher respect for America. Many economists say they’re counterproductive and damage staff and shoppers.
European Fee spokesman Olof Gill mentioned Thursday shortly earlier than Trump’s announcement that the EU was “prepared for whatever might come, and we have been preparing for over a year.”
However he referred to as for talks to calm the commerce waters.
“We want to negotiate to avoid tariffs in the future,” Gill added. “They bring nothing but lose-lose outcomes, and we want to focus on win-win outcomes.”
U.S. whiskey makers, in the meantime, urged Trump to dealer a deal and referred to as for “toasts not tariffs.”
“We urge President Trump to secure a spirits agreement with the EU to get us back to zero-for-zero tariffs, which will create U.S. jobs and increase manufacturing and exports for the American hospitality sector,” mentioned Chris Swonger of the Distilled Spirits Council.
In 2018, Europe responded to a different spherical of Trump with a 25% tax on U.S. whiskey, sending exports to the EU plunging by 20% by 2021, in accordance with the Distilled Spirits Council.
Trump’s separate deliberate 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico might additionally put one other 31,000 jobs in danger within the booze sector, the commerce group mentioned.
