President Donald Trump has said that he will put a 200 per cent tariff on certain products coming out of the "hostile and abusive" European Union if the bloc did not remove one of its own taxes.
It is the US President's latest tariff threat, with Trump imposing a 25 per cent tariff on worldwide steel and aluminium imports yesterday.
In his latest move, Trump has turned his attention to the alcohol industry.
The Potus has threatened to place a humongous tariff on all wines and other alcoholic products coming out of the European Union if the bloc did not "immediately" remove its tariff on whiskey.
Trump said he would put the humungous tariff on all wines and other alcoholic products
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Ursula von der Leyen is the president of the EU CommissionGETTYThe 50 percent tariff on Kentucky Bourbon was announced on Wednesday by the bloc and Canada as one of their retaliatory tariffs against US goods.
Boats and motorbikes were some of the other US goods that could see their levies raised from April 1.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump, who does not drink, said: “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 50pc tariff on whiskey.
“If this tariff is not removed immediately, the US will shortly place a 200 per cent Tariff on all wines, Champagnes and alcoholic products coming out of France and other EU represented countries. This will be great for the wine and Champagne businesses in the US.”
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The President has threatened to place a humongous tariff on all wines
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The 50 percent tariff on Kentucky Bourbon was announced on Wednesday by the bloc
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EU wine exports to the United States were worth 4.9 billion euros last year - 29 per cent of the bloc's overall exports of wine.
Of the EU exports to the United States, France made up almost half and Italy almost 40 per cent.
After Trump made his threat, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg that the US was going to “teach the rest of the world respect” about trade.
Following yesterday's tariff renouncement from Trump, Downing Street officials said the UK will take a "cool-headed" approach to a potential trade dispute.
Downing Street officials said the UK will take a 'cool-headed' approach to a potential trade dispute
PAEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the retaliatory levies were intended to be "strong but proportionate", adding that the EU was "ready to engage in a meaningful dialogue".
"Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business and worse for consumers," she said, warning the economic disruption put jobs at stake and would send prices higher.
"Nobody needs that – on both sides, neither in the European Union nor in the United States."
The European Commission said it will end its current suspension of tariffs on US products on April 1 and that its tariffs will be fully in place by April 13.
