The European Commission has sent a list of products to the member countries to which a 25% tariff will be applied in response to Donald Trump's trade war, and bourbon is not included, as reported by Reuters and confirmed by this newspaper. With this proposal, Brussels aims to prevent the President of the United States from strongly attacking wine, as well as all alcoholic beverages from the EU, and complies with the request made by both France and Italy in defense of their wine industry.
Brussels had indicated almost from the beginning of the new trade threat from the President of the United States that bourbon would be among the products subject to a tariff, and that it would also be 50%, to which Trump responded that he would impose a 200% retaliatory tariff on all alcoholic beverages from the EU. The industry sector urged the EU to avoid this punishment, as it would practically eliminate their exports to the United States.
And this Monday, during the meeting that Trade Ministers held in Luxembourg, it was already suggested that it was very likely that Brussels would ultimately choose not to include the mentioned American beverage, as has happened. This will also be a relief, obviously, for the Spanish industry, which in recent days had also warned of the impact of Trump's tariff measures.
Among the products included in the list, Reuters adds, are diamonds, eggs, dental floss, sausages, and poultry. The mentioned 25% tariffs will come into effect between May 16 and December 1, the date when tariffs on almonds and soybeans will be applied.
The latter product, soybeans, has been mentioned on numerous occasions by the European Commission as an example of the "smart" tariffs it wants to impose and with which to hit "where it hurts the most" with minimal effect on Europeans. On the one hand, because "it is significantly produced in Louisiana, the home of the President of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson." And, on the other hand, because it can be relatively easily imported from South America.
Below 26,000 million
In the next few hours, in any case, there should be more clarity on the complete list of products and its scope, which the Commissioner for Trade, Maros Sefcovic, has already indicated will not reach the 26,000 million euros initially suggested. This is due to the pressures that, as in the case of alcoholic beverages, countries have exerted to try to protect the interests of their respective industries.
"It is premature to give [a figure], but it will not reach the level of 26,000 million euros because we have listened very carefully to our Member States and wanted to ensure that the burden was fairly distributed among all," Sefcovic pointed out at the press conference following the aforementioned Trade Ministers meeting.
The Slovak Commissioner also emphasized Brussels' willingness to negotiate, and within that strategy is also the offer of "zero tariffs" for industrial goods that the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also revealed this Monday. This would include cars, and Sefcovic added that he already proposed this possibility to the Trump Administration at the first EU-US meeting in mid-February. However, the response at that time was not satisfactory for the Commission and, given what has happened since then, it still is not.