US president Donald Trump has promised to expand his tariff programme with a new 200% duty on EU wine, beer and spirits should the EU confirm its own tariffs on American whisky exports to Europe.
It follows the EU’s announcement of plans for a 50% tariff on US whiskies, as well as a range of other goods, in response to Trump’s implementation of a 25% tariff on steel and aluminium imports.
‘Nasty’
Speaking on his Truth Social platform, Trump said yesterday (13 March) that the US will “shortly place a 200% tariff on all wines, champagnes and alcoholic products coming out of France and other EU-represented countries” if the EU refuses to abandon its “nasty” plan on whisky.
The president added that this would be “great for the wine and champagne business in the US”.
EU trade chief, Maroš Šefčovič, has “reached out to his American counterparts” to discuss the potential measures, said a spokesperson from the European Commission.
India medicine tariffs
One dimension of Trump’s tariff plans that could be particularly costly for US consumers is a new tariff on imports from India, including on the large volumes of medicines and drugs manufactured in the country that are exported to the US.
Almost half of US-consumed medicines are made in India, according to a study by US healthcare firm IQVIA, which also found that Indian companies “provided [US]$12bn in savings to the US healthcare system in 2022”.
Trump is set to impose “reciprocal tariffs” at the start of April in response to the fact that, though US imports of Indian drugs are essentially tariff-free, US pharmaceutical exports to India face tariffs of 10.9%, according to the BBC.
That has raised concerns that the cost of drugs in the US market could increase. The head of finance for an Indian drug firm told the BBC that "we can offset single-digit tariff hikes with cost cuts, but anything higher will have to be passed down to consumers”.
