President Donald Trump threatened the European Union (EU) with crushing tariffs if it does not lift “a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky.”
The president, who described the EU as “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World,” said he would place a 200% tariff if the globalist Union did not remove theirs.
“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,” Trump warned.
The EU implemented tariffs on $28 billion worth of U.S. goods as a countermeasure to President Trump’s increased tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum imports. The EU targeted bourbon, jeans, and motorcycles, which appeared to be designed to harm globally popular American brands. However, tariffs on metal imports to the U.S. were not targeted at the EU but took effect globally, imposing a 25 percent levy on various metal items.
Tariffs in several areas have often been unbalanced in the EU’s favor. For example, the EU imposed 0 percent tariffs on American cars while the U.S. imposed only 2.5 percent tariffs on European cars.
The Hill reported:
A trade war with Europe was escalated Wednesday when Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum took effect, leading the EU to swiftly retaliate with a two-step approach.
The European trading bloc, which is made up of 27 nations, said it will allow the suspension of existing 2018 and 2020 countermeasures against the U.S. to expire April 1. That would allow for 50 percent tariffs on American whiskey, which were suspended, to automatically go into effect.
Second, the commission is proposing a new package of countermeasures on goods coming from the U.S. that will go into effect in mid-April, covering some $28 billion in imports in total.
Chris Swonger, CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council, urged Trump to make a deal with the EU to prevent escalation.
“The U.S.-EU spirits sector is the model for fair and reciprocal trade, having zero-for-zero tariffs since 1997,” he said.
“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. We want toasts not tariffs.”
On Wednesday, Swonger warned that a European whiskey tariff would be “very, very devastating.”
“We’ve just gotten the news early, early this morning, that the [EU] is poised to put a 50 percent tariff on American whiskey,” Swonger told NewsNation’s Nichole Berlie.
“That will be very, very devastating.”
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