The cost of champagne, wine, and other alcoholic beverages from Europe could be bubbling up as President Trump threatens to impose a 200 percent tariff on such imports from the European Union.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump wrote, “The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky.”
“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,” he said. “This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”
The threat of the 200 percent tariff is Mr. Trump’s latest shot in his trade battle with the European Union, which kicked off when he imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum imports from countries in the 27-nation trading bloc.
The EU promptly responded by raising tariffs on American beef, poultry, peanut butter, motorcycles, jeans, and bourbon.
The European tariffs on American whiskey raised concerns from the CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Chris Swonger.
In an interview with NewsNation, Mr. Swonger said, “We’ve just gotten the news…that the [EU] is poised to put a 50 percent tariff on American whiskey. That will be very, very devastating.”
America’s liquor industry is also facing tariffs from Canada after Mr. Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on Canadian imports. In response, Canada imposed a 25 percent tariff on American imports, including spirits. And in several provinces, American bourbons were taken off shelves in stories.
The CEO of the company that makes Jack Daniel’s, Brown Forman, Lawson Whiting, said the decision to remove bourbon from store shelves was “worse than a tariff.”
“It’s literally taking your sales away,” Mr. Whiting said as he called the action a “very disproportionate response.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
