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OAN Staff James Meyers
7:19 AM – Wednesday, March 12, 2025
President Donald Trump on Thursday morning threatened to put a massive 200% tariff on wine and champagne that is shipped from Europe if the European Union (EU) does not remove a tariff on whisky.
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“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,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“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. This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.” he added.
Later Thursday morning, Trump posted: “The U.S. doesn’t have Free Trade. We have ‘Stupid Trade.’ The Entire World is RIPPING US OFF!!!”
The latest move by Trump comes after the trade war escalated further Wednesday when the president’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum took effect, which led to the EU implementing their own retaliatory tariffs.
The EU trading bloc, which is composed of 27 countries, said it will allow the suspension of the 2018 and 2020 “countermeasures against the U.S. that are set to expire April 1st. This would allow 50% tariffs on American whiskey, which were suspended, to automatically go into effect.
The second step is that the commission is proposing their own “countermeasures” on goods coming from the U.S. that will go into effect in mid-April, which covers close to $28 billion in imports in total.
The U.S. is the world’s largest importer of both wine and champagne, with America receiving $4.9 billion in annual sales. Meanwhile, U.S. exports of wine rank fifth among all countries at close to $1 billion, while its exports of sparkling wine and champagne total only $67 million, which is 12th across the globe.
The CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Chris Swonger, on Wednesday warned that a European whiskey tariff would be “very, very devastating.”
“We’ve just gotten the news early, early this morning, that the [European Union (EU)] is poised to put a 50 percent tariff on American whiskey. That will be very, very devastating,” Swonger told NewsNation’s Nichole Berlie.
The 47th president has imposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, but has recently announced exemptions for auto parts and goods that were a part of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement he signed in 2020.
The president has repeatedly suggested that the U.S.’s large trade deficit with the rest of the world is a sign of weakness. Trump has acknowledged that his tariffs strategy may lead to a period of “transition” for the U.S. economy.
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