Reciprocal tariffs from other countries seem to have taken the president by surprise.
Donald Trump announced yet another round of tariffs against the European Union early Thursday, claiming that the “hostile” coalition of countries—who have been allies with the U.S. for decades—would face severe consequences for levying U.S. whiskey imports.
“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 percent Tariff on Whisky,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200 percent 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.”
The EU swiftly hit back Wednesday after Trump raised tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, announcing their own tolls on some of their biggest U.S. imports. That includes American beef, poultry, peanut butter, jeans, motorcycles, and alcohol, the last of which has become collateral damage in Trump’s international trade war.
“The EU is a major destination for U.S. whiskey, with exports surging 60% in the past three years after an earlier set of tariffs was suspended,” reported the Associated Press.
The president’s new tariffs are expected to cost companies billions of dollars. Corporations will either have to eat the losses or—as is more likely—pass the higher costs off to their customers.
“We deeply regret this measure. Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement Wednesday, noting that the levies will cost jobs and only serve to increase the cost of goods both in the U.S. and abroad.
But Trump’s influence in hiking the cost of alcohol likely won’t bode well for the country, if U.S. history serves as any lesson. While Trump’s efforts aren’t exactly stripping alcohol from the shelves, they will make the prices of liquor, wine, and beer skyrocket. That could make bottles less accessible for the average American and ultimately shrink consumption.
The passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, which criminalized alcohol and sparked Prohibition, was not just wildly unpopular with the American public, but also had dire consequences for the U.S. economy. Government tax revenues, which up until that point relied heavily on liquor sales to substantiate their budgets, plummeted. The lack of alcohol sales between 1920 and 1933 cost the federal government $11 billion in lost tax revenue.
In 2023, alcohol excise tax collections for the federal government totaled $11.1 billion, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.
The post Trump Unleashes Chaos on Europe With Sky High Tariffs appeared first on New Republic.
