<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">President Trump threatened to escalate a<span class="css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0"> </span>trade war with the European Union after the bloc announced 50 percent tariffs on U.S. whiskey and several other American products to kick in on April 1, in retaliation to a batch of U.S. tariffs that took effect this week.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“If this tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200 percent tariff on all wines, Champagnes, and alcoholic products coming out of France and other E.U. represented countries,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Thursday.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mr. Trump’s jab came a day after <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/world/europe/eu-us-trump-tariffs.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/world/europe/eu-us-trump-tariffs.html" title="">E.U. leaders announced</a> that they would respond to the United States imposing 25 percent tariffs on steel, aluminum and related products.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The 27-nation bloc plans to react in two waves: First, with tariffs as high as 50 percent on U.S. products including Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Kentucky bourbon, which will take effect on April 1; and second, a series of measures in mid-April that would target farm products and industrial goods that are important to Republican districts.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">European leaders have made it clear that they would prefer not to enact the tariffs, and would like to negotiate with Mr. Trump.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“Tariffs are taxes,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, said in a <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_25_752" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">statement</a> on Wednesday.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">But with little progress toward a deal, E.U. leaders have decided to hit back in politically sensitive product categories, hoping to inflict enough pain that they would drive Americans to the negotiation table.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">This is not the first time the spirits and alcohol industry has been caught in a <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/business/economy/whiskey-tariffs.html" title="">trade war</a>. Less extreme tariffs were placed on liquor and other alcohol during Mr. Trump’s first term, and the industry’s recovery from that hit has been long and grueling.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Industry executives have been lobbying in Washington, Brussels and other European capitals to be spared this time — and expressed alarm on Wednesday that they were once again caught in the crossfire.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-3"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-2"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“Reimposing these debilitating tariffs at a time when the spirits industry continues to face a slowdown” will “further curtail growth and negatively impact distillers and farmers in states across the country,” Chris Swonger, the chief executive of the Washington-based Distilled Spirits Council, said in a statement on Wednesday.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mr. Trump wrote in his social media post that the tariffs “will be great for the wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Champagne, technically, is <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.champagne.fr/en/about-champagne/a-great-blended-wine/the-champagne-region" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">only produced</a> in a specific region in France.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, did not have an immediate comment on Mr. Trump’s post.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">But Olof Gill, a spokesman for the commission, said that bloc’s trade commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, had reached out to his American counterparts after the E.U.’s announcements Wednesday and that calls were “being prepared.”</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div>