Trump threatens a 200% tariff to wine and other alcoholic beverages of the European Union

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has threatened this Thursday with tariffs of 200% on wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages from the European Union in response to Brussels countermeasures, which they plan to tax with 25% among other products the US whiskey. «If this tariff is not immediately eliminated by the United States, a 200 % tariff will soon impose all wines, champanes and alcoholic products from France and other EU countries,» wrote the tenant of the White House, which insisted on the idea that the union was created «to annoy» the US.

Trump believes that if he takes that step «he will greatly benefit the wine and champagne sector in the United States.» It is his reaction to the announcement of this Wednesday of Brussels to approve tariffs against American products, in a series of «hard but provided» countermeasures, as explained by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

These steps will take effect on April 1 and will have a value of 26,000 million euros. In that scenario, the Community Executive «regrets the decision of the United States to impose such tariffs, which are unjustified and harmful to transatlantic trade, harmful to companies and consumers and that often result in higher prices.»

In this way, Brussels reactive tariffs that have already imposed, also in response to Trump, between 2018 and 2020, in a commercial war scenario similar to the current one, worth 8,000 million euros against European products. It is the «reciprocal» response to the Washington announcement to impose a rate precisely 25% on community aluminum and steel.

Thus, on April 1, 2025, the 2018 and 2020 rebalancing measures will be automatically restored, once its suspension expires on March 31, the commission replied in a statement. For the first time, these response measures will be applied entirely, and will take effect tariffs to products ranging from the ships to the Bourbon, through motorcycles. «The first step in this process is the beginning of a two -week consultation with the EU interested parties. These consultations will guarantee that the appropriate products are chosen for their inclusion in the new countermeasures, ensuring an effective and proportionate response that minimizes disturbances for companies and consumers of the Union, ”clarifies Brussels.

In a way, the (almost) fear in the US has already begun. The executive director of the United States Chamber of Commerce in the EU (Amcham EU), Malte Lohan, was quite resounding in the statement he issued after the announcement of Brussels. He says that the damage of the measures «will be severe» and warns that they have nothing positive: «They will only damage the employment, prosperity and security of both parts of the Atlantic.» That is why it asks that both parties feel at the negotiating table, something that the EU has in mind … until April 1.