Trump Vows 200% Tariff on EU Wine, Escalating Trade Tensions (1)

President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages from France and elsewhere in the European Union, the latest escalation in a growing transatlantic trade war.

The president in a social media post on Thursday said that he would move forward with the import duties if Brussels follows through with a tax on American whiskey exports, a measure aimed at retaliating against Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs that went into effect on Wednesday.

“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 said about the pending levies on bourbon. “This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”

Trump later Thursday said he would not repeal tariffs on steel and aluminum that took effect this week, nor back off plans for sweeping reciprocal tariffs on global trading parters set to start as soon as April 2.

“No,” the US president told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if he would pull back from tariffs. “We’ve been ripped off for years, and we’re not going to be ripped off anymore.”

A three-week selloff in US stocks resumed in force on Thursday, sending the S&P 500 Index to the brink of a 10% correction, as investors took stock of Trump’s latest tariff threats amid another benign inflation report.

Shares in European makers of alcoholic beverages fell earlier, with LVMH, which owns champagne houses Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot, down as much as 2.2%. Cognac producer Remy Cointreau SA dropped 4.5% and spirits maker Pernod Ricard declined 3.6%.

Trump is “escalating the trade war he chose to unleash,” Laurent Saint-Martin, France’s trade minister, wrote in a post on X. “We will not give in to threats and will always protect our industries.”

The US president on Thursday once again aired his grievances against the EU, this time citing its treatment of American tech companies.

“They’re suing Google, they’re suing Facebook, they’re suing all of these companies, and they’re taking billions of dollars out of American companies, many more than the ones I just mentioned. And I guess they’re using it to run Europe or something. I don’t know what they’re using it for, but they treat us very badly,” Trump said.

In response to Trump’s metals tariffs, the EU is planning countermeasures with duties on as much as €26 billion ($28.3 billion) worth of American products.

The EU will also immediately begin consultations with member states, with the aim of adopting the additional lists of agricultural and industrial goods subject to tariffs as high as 25% by mid-April.

Read more: US Whiskey Makers Look to Flood Market Ahead of EU Tariffs

“The president was totally annoyed that the Europeans did this,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg Television on Thursday. “He cares about America, and he wants to take care of Americans. And why are Europeans picking on Kentucky bourbon, Harley-Davidson motorcycles?”

Lutnick was referring to iconic American products that were tariff targets during Trump’s first-term trade dispute with the EU. Those duties were suspended under a Biden administration ceasefire that’s scheduled to end on March 31, and without a new deal or an extension, they’ll snap back into force at an even higher rate.

Talks Today

Lutnick, who said he plans to speak to EU officials later Thursday said that hopefully, “they’ll realize that they should take these things down.”

A spokesman for the EU confirmed that calls are planned.

Trump has also pledged yet another round of tariffs in just three weeks, saying he’ll begin rolling out so-called reciprocal duties. The White House plans to apply an across-the-board rate to each country, based on a calculation of their own tariffs and other trade barriers, such as digital taxes or value-added levies.

That threatens to further ignite the trade war, forcing countries to retaliate in ways that could spur Trump to add more levies of his own under the mantle of reciprocity. The president is also pledging separate sectoral tariffs on industries including autos, lumber, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and copper.

Read More: Lutnick Praises UK, Mexico, Blasts Canada on Trade Retaliation

The president has enacted his sweeping tariff agenda in a piecemeal fashion, a strategy that has been punctuated by uncertainty, including delays, reversals and changes in direction. Trump on Tuesday threatened to double a forthcoming tariff on Canada and backed down hours later when Ontario paused an export surcharge on electricity.

The use of tariffs as leverage in economic and geopolitical disputes is weighing on markets. The S&P 500 Index has dropped nearly 10% from a February high, raising fears of a recession.

Trump — who during his first term repeatedly touted stock surges as validation of his policies — has shrugged off the fallout, saying this week the selloff was a buying opportunity and necessary to remake American industry and supply chains. Support for his tariff barrage is tepid at best, with many industry groups urging exemptions and economists warning of cascading fallout across the economy.

Trump during his first term pledged to enact sweeping tariffs on French wine over Paris’ tax posture toward US technology companies, but later retreated from that threat after he reached a truce with French President Emmanuel Macron.

(Adds Trump comments starting in fourth paragrapgh, markets in sixth paragraph)

--With assistance from Josh Wingrove, Kit Rees, Alberto Nardelli, Richard Bravo, Lisa Abramowicz, Annmarie Hordern, Jonathan Ferro, Laura Davison, Meghashyam Mali, Magan Crane and Samy Adghirni.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Hadriana Lowenkron in Washington at hlowenkron@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Justin Sink at jsink1@bloomberg.net

Brendan Murray, Jordan Fabian

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