Trump threatens heavy tariffs on French wines and EU alcohol

And so the day begins. From the man himself:

“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% Tariff on Whisky. If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% 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 euro is down slightly from the headlines here with EUR/USD dipping from 1.0860 levels earlier to a low of 1.0845. It is still down 0.3% on the day currently at around 1.0850 levels.

It’s one of the bigger ones to slap such heavy tariffs on French alcohol especially. But once again as a reminder, Trump loves to go big from the onset before watering things down. So, we’ll see. In any case, he is drowning out any optimism from the German negotiations on the debt package; although that should be largely priced in already by markets anyhow.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.