Heavy lobbying by European spirits and wines producers, who feared further U.S. tariffs on their own products, deterred the European Commission from proposing tariffs on Bourbon and U.S. wine.
But Washington’s blanket 10% tariffs on all EU products, including spirits, has led the EU to reconsider. Also: EU beer producers are being harmed by steel and aluminum tariffs.
The upshot: The European Commission has proposed targeting 1,3 billion euros of U.S. spirits, wine and beer, a senior EC official told Eurative. “This was something that was discussed at the time of the steel measures,” the official said. “At that time, the US had not imposed measures on EU wine and spirits; now they have.”
Bourbon whiskey was already hit by EU tariffs in 2018, during Trump’s first term, but the measures were suspended after the EU struck a truce with former president Joe Biden in 2021.