Trump threatens 200% tariff on European wine after EU proposes US whiskey tariff

Donald Trump has threatened a 200% tariff on European wine, champagne and spirits

US president Donald Trump has threatened a 200% tariff on European wine, champagne and spirits if the European Union goes forward with a planned tariff on American whiskey.

The European tariff was expected to take effect on April 1.

Mr Trump said in a social media post that the EU was “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.” 

“If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the US will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER EU REPRESENTED COUNTRIES,” Mr Trump said.

“This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the US,” Mr Trump added.

The Republican president had signalled on Wednesday that he intended to take the action.

“Of course I will respond,” Mr Trump told reporters during an Oval Office exchange.

Mr Trump, in announcing the new steel and aluminium tariffs on Wednesday, openly challenged US allies and vowed to take back wealth “stolen” by other countries, and he drew quick retaliation.

He has separate tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, with plans to also tax imports from the European Union, Brazil and South Korea by charging “reciprocal” rates starting on April 2.

The EU announced its own countermeasures. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that as the United States was “applying tariffs worth $28bn [€25.8bn], we are responding with countermeasures worth €26bn”.

These measures cover not just steel and aluminium products but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods.

European Commission spokesman Olof Gill said on Thursday, shortly before Mr Trump’s announcement, that the EU was “prepared for whatever might come, and we have been preparing for over a year”.

“We call on the US to immediately revoke the tariffs imposed yesterday, and we want to negotiate to avoid tariffs in the future,” Mr Gill added.

“They bring nothing but lose-lose outcomes and we want to focus on win-win outcomes.”

Trump hits out at Ireland and EU in Oval Office

It comes a day after Mr Trump levelled accusations against Ireland and the EU during a bilateral meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

The president raised the “massive” trade imbalance between the two countries and said Ireland is “of course” taking advantage of the US.

Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “There’s a massive deficit that we have with Ireland and with other countries too, and we want to sort of even that out as nicely as we can, and we’ll work together.” 

He accused the Irish Government of “taking” US pharmaceutical companies through attractive taxation measures and criticised the EU’s ruling that found that Apple owes Ireland billions of euro in taxes.

He said: “The United States of America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries and, frankly, by incompetent US leadership.

He added: “I gave you an example of Ireland, I would have never let that happen but we’re going to take back our wealth and we’re take back a lot of the companies that left.” 

Asked if Ireland was also taking advantage of the US, he said: “Of course they are. I have great respect for Ireland, for what they did and they should have done just what they did. But the United States shouldn’t have let that happen. We had stupid leaders, we had leaders who didn’t have a clue.

“All of a sudden Ireland has our pharmaceutical companies, this beautiful island of five million people has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasps.”