On March 12, The European Union (EU) announced that it plans to implement a 50 percent tariff on American whiskey in response to the Trump administration’s global levy on all steel and aluminum imports. The retaliatory measure is set to go into effect on April 1, and will target multiple American products including whiskey, motorcycles, and motorboats.
This back-and-forth is the continuation of a similar tariff saga that took place during Trump’s first term in 2018, when he imposed 25 percent and 10 percent tariffs on European steel and aluminium, respectively. The tariffs were suspended under the Biden administration, but Trump recently reignited the controversy, bumping up the tariffs to 25 percent on all imported aluminium and steel.
