The move is the latest development in a brewing trade war between the US and the EU.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to impose tariffs of 200% on European wine, champagne and spirits if the European Union proceeds with plans to tax American whiskey imports.
The EU’s 50% whiskey tariff, which was due to take effect on April 1, was announced in response to the US administration’s plans to tax European steel and aluminum imports.
“If this Tariff is not removed immediately, 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,” the US president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
How did we get to this point?
Trump’s announcement on Thursday is the latest development in an escalating trade dispute between the US and many of its allies and closest trading partners, including the EU, Canada and Mexico.
On Wednesday, he told reporters at the White House that he would “of course” retaliate to the EU’s tit-for-tat tariffs.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insisted that the EU’s reaction was “strong but proportionate.”
“As the US are applying tariffs worth $28 billion (€26 billion), we are responding with countermeasures worth €26 billion,” she said in a statement.
Von der Leyen added that EU authorities “remain open to negotiation” and “firmly believe that in a world fraught with geopolitical and economic uncertainties, it is not in our common interest to burden our economies with tariffs.”
Shortly before Trump announced the massive 200% tariff on Thursday, European Commission spokesman Olof Gill urged Washington to “immediately revoke” the duties on European steel and aluminum and called for negotiations.
The tariffs “bring nothing but lose-lose outcomes, and we want to focus on win-win outcomes,” Gill said.
Why is Trump imposing the tariffs?
Since returning to the White House on January 20, the US president has slapped tariffs on a range of products from both America’s allies as well as its rivals, including China.
Beijing has promised to use “all necessary measures” to respond to Trump’s measures. It has already imposed tariffs of 10% and 15% on US agriculture products.
Trump has used the threat of heavy tariffs to pressure governments into accepting various policy demands, including curbing fentanyl smuggling and illegal immigration, as well as to address what Washington perceives as global trading imbalances.
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/trump-threatens-200-tariff-on-european-wine-spirits/a-71913486
