Trump's new proposed cheese and wine tariffs grate on Europeans
Source: Washington Post
PARIS — European leaders and merchants on Thursday slammed Trump administration plans to impose hefty tariffs on a wide array of European goods after the World Trade Organization ruled in favor of the United States in a long brewing dispute over subsidies for European aircraft manufacturer, Airbus.
Pending final approval from the WTO later this month, the Trump administration will impose tariffs on approximately $7.5 billion in European goods, including certain Italian cheeses, British-made cashmere sweaters and, one of Trump’s favorite targets, French wines. The tariffs — as high as 25 percent on agricultural and industrial products — could take effect as soon as Oct. 18, exacerbating concerns over a possible transatlantic trade war.
Ulrich Adam, the director general of Europe’s largest spirits lobby, decried the White House’s decision as a misguided step that targets industries unrelated to the core of the growing U.S.-E.U. trade dispute, which centers on aircraft manufacturers.
“As a totally unrelated sector, it is unacceptable for the spirits producers having to pay the price for a dispute that is essentially about civil aircraft subsidies,” he said in a statement released on Thursday. “It is particularly irritating to see that unrelated sectors like ours will be hit by an extra 25 percent tariffs when the sector at stake will only be imposed a 10 percent rate!”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe-decries-proposed-us-tariffs-on-french-wine-italian-cheese-and-other-products/2019/10/03/2dab6dd9-89fb-403c-8f1d-77edd5cd29db_story.html
Does anyone not think this was Trump impulsively trying to remember something each Country makes?
France? Wine.
Scotland? Whiskey
Ireland? Sweaters
Greece? Olives
= new reply since forum marked as read
