Trump Threatens Massive Tariffs on European Spirits

U.S. President Donald Trump has responded to the European Union’s decision to impose a 50% tariff on Bourbon and other American whiskies starting April 1. In a Truth Social post, he threatened to retaliate with a 200% tariff on all spirits and wine imports from EU member countries.

Reaction to the threat was swift. Spirits Europe director of Trade and Economic Affairs Pauline Bastidon called the threat alarming, and urged leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to negotiate their way back to tariff-free trade for spirits. The U.S. accounts for about a third of European wine and spirits exports, and for categories like Irish whiskey, the U.S. is the most important export market.

“Once again, we are dragged into an entirely unrelated dispute over steel and aluminum, and our message to the politicians is very clear: this cycle of tit-for-tat retaliation must end now,” she said in a telephone interview. Her colleagues at the Distilled Spirits Council in Washington echoed the call for tariff-free trade, which was the norm between 1998 and 2018.

The European 50% tariff is an extension of tariffs originally imposed on U.S. spirits in 2018 during the first Trump Administration, when the U.S. levied tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to protect the domestic steel industry. Trump revived those tariffs earlier this week, imposing the tax on all of the country’s leading trading partners. As a reminder, tariffs are not paid by the exporting country or company, but by the company importing goods from another country.

This story will be updated with additional information.